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i: ', 


JULIO 
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L161—  O-1096 


OF  THE 

nr  ti 


James  Monroe,  after  whom 
Monroe  Street  was  named 


Through  the  courtesy  of 
Mr.  Rufus  C.  Dawes 


Notes  on  the  Monroe  Street 
of  Early  Chicago  Days 


1914 


Compiled  by  Edwin  F.  Mack 


Published  by 

CENTRAL  TRUST  COMPANY  OF  ILLINOIS 

125  West  Monroe  Street 

Chicago 


Copyright,  1914, 

by 

Central  Trust  Company  of  Illinois, 
Chicago,  Illinois 


\V\     \ 


A  WORD  OF  ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

IN  gathering  these  notes  about  old  Monroe  Street 
(from  the  River  to  the  Lake),  the  compiler  wishes  to 
acknowledge  the  courteous  assistance  of  Mr.  M.  E. 
Dahl,  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  in  the  search 
among  the  books,  pamphlets,  maps  and  papers  in  the 
possession  of  the  Society,  from  which  much  of  the 
material  of  this  little  publication  was  secured. 

The  compiler  has  also  drawn  heavily  upon  the 
monumental  History  of  Chicago  by  A.  T.  Andreas; 
upon  the  later  History  of  Chicago,  in  five  volumes,  by 
J.  Seymour  Currey,  as  well  as  upon  other  publications 
mentioned  in  the  text. 

Among  those  whose  personal  recollections  have  been 
of  service,  special  acknowledgments  are  due  Mr.  W.  D. 
Kerfoot,  Mr.  Frank  W.  Smith,  Mr.  James  Walsh, 
Mr.  Nathan  Dickinson,  Mr.  Herbert  Darlington,  Mr. 
Charles  M.  Sturges,  Mr.  A.  B.  Adam  and  Mr.  Frank 
O.  Butler. 

E.  F.  M. 


10 

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RANGE     1+    EAST 


MAP  SHOWING  HUBBARD'S  TRAIL 


Reproduced  from  part  of  a  map  ap- 
pearing in  Andreas'  History  of  Chicago 


OLD  MONROE  STREET 


FROM  THE  RIVER  TO  THE  LAKE 

map  of  Chicago  dated  1830,  in  the  possession  of     First  map 
Chicago  Historical  Society,  shows  the  village  of     of  Chicago 
Chicago  clustered  about  old  Fort  Dearborn,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Chicago  River.     The  present  location  of 
Monroe  Street  was  then  out  in  the  country,  in  the 
section  of  land  south  of  the  village  bounded  by  Madison, 
State,   Halsted  and   12th  Streets. 

This  map  shows  the  district  on  the  west  side  of  the 
River  pretty  well  wooded,  while  on  the  east  side  of 
the  River  the  woods  extend  not  quite  halfway  to 
Hubbard's  .Trail  (about  the  present  location  of  Clark 
Street),  leading  to  Danville. 

This  trail  was  named  after  Col.  Gurdon  S.  Hub-     Hubbard's 
bard,  who  was  the  first  white  man  to  blaze  a  trail     Trail 
from  Chicago  overland  to  the  southern  part  of  the 
State,  instead  of  following  the  course  of  the  rivers,  as 
had  been  done  previously. 

Monroe  Street  is  located  in  what  is  known  as  a 
* School  Section  (640  acres).  Section  No.  16  in  every 
township  in  the  State  of  Illinois  was  granted  to  the 
State  by  the  U.  S.  Government  for  the  use  of  the 
schools.  The  school  section  in  this  township  was 
bounded  by  Madison  Street  on  the  north,  12th  Street 
on  the  south,  State  Street  on  the  east  and  Halsted 
Street  on  the  west. 

order  to  raise  money  for  school  purposes,  an     ^ig  Real 

sale  was  held  on  October  21,  1833,  and  con-     Estate 
tinued    for  five  days,   in  the  first  Tremont  House,     Auction 
located  at  that  time  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Dear- 
born and  Lake  Streets. 


£6.72  an 
Acre 


Golden 

Jones' 

Purchase 


Original 
Town  Limits 


Naming  of 

Monroe 

Street 


Out  of  140  blocks  comprising  the  school  section, 
all  but  four  blocks  were  sold  for  a  total  of  $38,619.47, 
or  an  average  of  $6.72  an  acre.  One  of  the  four 
blocks  remaining  for  school  use  was  the  block  bounded 
by  Monroe,  Dearborn,  State  and  Madison  Streets. 


at  the  foregoing  auction  sale  that  Benjamin 
Jones  (also  known  as  "Golden  Jones"  on  account  of 
his  wealth)  on  October  22,  1833,  purchased  from  the 
State  of  Illinois,  Lot  2,  Block  117,  upon  which  the 
Central  Trust  Company  of  Illinois  now  stands,  for 
the  sum  of  $78,  being  about  the  price  today  of  one 
sq.  ft.  of  the  16,920  sq.  ft.  in  this  lot. 

This  lot  appears  to  have  passed  out  of  the  Jones 
family  April  13,  1868,  through  a  deed  given  by  the 
executors  of  the  estate  of  William  Jones,  father  of 
Fernando  Jones,  to  John  M.  Douglas  for  $58,500.  Mr. 
Douglas  was  at  that  time  President  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad. 


Monroe  Street  was  not  within  the  original  limits 
Chicago  when  it  was  incorporated  as  a  town  on 
August  12,  1833,  the  southern  limits  of  the  town  at 
that  time  being  Madison  Street. 

However,  the  southern  town  limits  were  extended 
on  November  6,  1833,  as  far  south  as  Jackson  Street; 
and  on  that  date,  therefore,  Monroe  Street  became 
part  of  the  town  of  Chicago. 

Chicago  was  incorporated  as  a  city  March  4,  1837. 


Chicago  Democrat,  in  its  issue  of  December  3, 
1833  (in  the  files  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society), 
contains  an  ordinance  passed  by  the  Town  Council 
on  November  7th  which  was  rather  remarkable  for 
the  number  and  scope  of  its  provisions. 


8 


The  second  paragraph  of  this  ordinance  reads  as    Monroe 
follows:  Street 

"BE   IT   FURTHER   ORDAINED  that  the  first  street  in  -  Named 
said  town,  south  of  Washington  Street,  be  named  Madison  Street; 
the  second  street  shall  be  named  Monroe  Street;   the  third  shall  be 
named    Adams  Street  and  the  fourth  shall  be  named  Jackson 
Street." 


Among  the  other  articles  of  this  comprehensive 
ordinance,  paragraph  3  ordains: 

"That  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  December  next,  every  ( 
owner  of  any  hog,  sow  or  pig  found  running  at  large  in  said  town/ 
without  having  a  ring  in  its  nose  or  yoke  on  its  neck,  shall  be  liable 
to  a  fine  of  two  dollars  for  each  and  every  offence." 

Another  paragraph  of  the  same  ordinance  pre- 
scribes in  considerable  detail  how  the  citizens  of  Chicago 
shall  run  their  stovepipes  through  the  ceilings  and  roofs 
of  their  houses. 

Referring  to  paragraph  3  of  the  foregoing  ordi-/ 
»  nance,  it  should  be  stated  that  by  1842  hogs  roaming! 
about  the  streets  of  Chicago  had  become  such  an  un-j 
mitigated  nuisance  that  an  ordinance  was  passed  on/ 
April  21st  of  that  year  prohibiting  them  from  running\ 
at  large  in  the  streets,  even  when  provided  with  rings/ 
in  their  noses  or  yokes  on  their  necks. 

James  Monroe,  after  whom  Monroe  Street  was 
named,  was  the  fifth  President  of  the  United  States, 
his  two  terms  of  office  as  President  extending  from 
1817  to  1825.  Besides  the  office  of  President,  Monroe 
also  distinguished  himself  in  other  political  offices, 
principally  as  United  States  Senator,  Minister  to 
France,  Spain  and  England,  and  as  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia. 

Monroe's  name  will  always  be  best  remembered  in 
connection  with  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  which  was 


Primitive 
Conditions 


The  Hog 
Question 
Again 


James 
Monroe 


BEFORE  THE  ORDINANCE  IN  REGARD  TO  PIGS 


10 


enunciated  by  him  in  his  annual  message  to  Congress 
in  1823.  This  doctrine  was  a  warning  to  European 
nations  against  interference  in  the  affairs  of  the  nations 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 


following  Monroe  Street  addresses  appear  in 
Chicago  City  Directory  of  1844: 
S.  Foot,  Teamster,  corner  Clark  and  Monroe  Streets. 

[Where  the  Fort  Dearborn  Building  now  stands.] 
Josiah  B.  Crocker,  Whitewashes  Clark  Street,  corner 

of  Monroe. 

Nathaniel  F.  Butler,  "res.  Monroe  St." 
Samuel  S.  Barry,  Painter  at  Cushings,  "House  Monroe 

St.,  between  Clark  and  LaSalle  Sts." 
James  M.  Adsit,  Carpenter,  "House  Monroe  St." 

[Where  the  Inter-Ocean  Building  now  stands.] 

In  1846  Mr.  Adsit  engaged  in  the  private  banking 
business  on  Clark  Street,  and  continued  in  that  business 
until  his  bank  was  absorbed  by  the  Chicago  National 
Bank  at  its  organization  in  1882.  Mr.  Adsit  became 
Vice  President  of  the  Chicago  National  Bank,  and  held 
that  office  for  a  short  time. 


business  center  of  Chicago  from  1840  until 
'about  1860  was  on  Clark  Street,  in  the  first  two  or 
three  blocks  south  of  the  river.  This  was  brought 
about  largely  by  the  construction  of  the  Clark  Street 
Bridge  in  1840. 

Merchants  and  small  shopkeepers  sought  locations 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  bridge,  where  the  traffic 
was  greatest;  and  when  both  sides  of  Clark  Street  were 
occupied  by  commercial  houses,  South  Water  Street 
and  Lake  Street,  for  three  or  four  blocks  east  and  west 
of  Clark  Street,  were  filled  up  with  business  houses, 
hotels  and  offices  of  professional  men. 


Monroe 
Doctrine 


1844  City 
Directory 


Business 

Center 

1840-1860 


11 


STAGE  COACH  ARRIVING  AT  THE  SHERMAN  HOUSE 

From  a  description 

12 


William  Bross,  who  later  became  associated  with 
»  Joseph  Medill  and  others  on  the  Chicago  Tribune, 
in  his  reminiscences  (Lakeside  Classics)  speaks  of  the 
sidewalk  situation  here  in  1848  as  follows: 

"The  sidewalks,  where  such  luxuries  were  indulged 
in,  lay,  in  most  cases,  upon  the  rich  prairie  soil,  for  the 
stringpieces  of  scantling  to  which  the  planks  were 
originally  spiked  would  soon  sink  down  into  the  mud 
after  a  rain  and  then,  as  one  walked,  the  green  and  black 
slime  would  gush  up  between  the  cracks." 


Soggy 
Sidewalks 


r.  W.  D.  Kerfoot,  in  referring  to  the  condition 
of  Monroe  Street  and  other  streets  in  this  neighbor- 
hood in  the  Fifties,  says  that  the  streets  were  frequently 
impassable  for  weeks  at  a  time  during  the  spring  rains, 
and  that  driving  over  these  frozen  seas  of  mud  in 
cold  weather  often  gave  one  the  sensation  of  driving 
over  a  rubber  pavement,  with  the  added  experience, 
occasionally,  of  breaking  through  the  crust  into  the 
mud  below. 


r.  Kerfoot  tells  two  good  stories  of  road  condi- 
tions  in  Chicago  in  those  days,  the  first  one  of  which, 
with  some  poetic  license,  illustrates  general  conditions, 
while  the  second  one  is  probably  based  upon  an  actual 
occurrence. 

Upon  one  occasion,  after  quite  a  rainy  spell,  a 
citizen  saw  a  man's  head  and  shoulders  sticking  out 
of  the  mud  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  and  asked  him 
whether  he  could  be  of  any  assistance  to  him.  The 
man  promptly  answered:  "No,  thank  you.  I  have 
a  horse  under  me." 

In  the  days  of  the  old  Frink  &  Walker  Stage  Coach 
Line  a  coach  drew  up,  one  very  muddy  November 
evening,  at  the  old  Sherman  House,  located  on  the 
site  of  the  present  Sherman  House.  By  means  of 


Bottomless 
Streets 


"No, 

Thank 

you!" 


13 


A  Stage 

Coach 

Experience 


Gas  Works 

on  Monroe 

Street 


Ten-year 
Franchise 


two  stout  planks  the  passengers  were  able  to  bridge 
the  sea  of  mud  and  pass  from  the  stage  coach  to  the 
sidewalk. 

The  horses  were  also  able  to  struggle  out  of  the 
mud  that  evening,  but  the  stage  coach  was  left  there, 
to  be  pulled  out  in  the  morning.  During  the  night 
winter  suddenly  set  in  in  full  vigor,  and  the  stage  coach 
was  so  firmly  frozen  in  that  it  could  not  be  taken  out 
until  spring. 


south  side  of  Monroe  Street,  between  what  is 
Franklin  Street  (which  was  not  then  opened 
through)  and  Market  Street,  was  the  site  of  the  first 
gas  works  in  the  city,  erected  in  1850  at  a  cost  of 
$105,000  by  the  Chicago  Gas  Light  &  Coke  Com- 
pany. 

The  ground  between  Market  Street  and  the  River 
was  occupied  by  Walter  &  Rogers'  coal  yard. 

The  lot  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Monroe  and 
Market  Streets  was  not  included  in  the  gas  com- 
pany's property,  but  it  had  a  little  office  on  Monroe 
Street,  just  next  to  this  corner  lot  on  the  east.  The 
company's  main  office  at  that  time  was  in  the  Dickey 
Building,  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Dearborn  and 
Lake  Streets. 

The  gas  holder  was  about  halfway  between  Market 
Street  and  what  is  now  Franklin  Street.  Soon  after 
its  location  on  Monroe  Street  the  company  extended 
its  property  through  to  Adams  Street,  where  the  retort 
was  located. 

The  Chicago  Gas  Light  &  Coke  Company  was 
incorporated  by  special  act  of  the  State  Legislature 
in  February,  1849,  with  the  exclusive  right  to  manu- 
facture, distribute  and  sell  gas  in  the  City  of  Chicago 
for  a  period  of  ten  years. 


14 


The  gas  was  first  turned  on  in  September,  1850, 
according  to  William  Bross,  who  states  that  until  that 
time  people  had  to  grope  around  in  the  dark  or  use 
lanterns.  It  seems,  however,  that  the  extension  of 
the  service  was  rather  slow,  for  Mr.  Bross  states  that 
it  was  not  until  1853  or  1854  that  the  pipes  reached 
his  home  at  No.  202  Michigan  Avenue. 

In  1850  the  company  got  $3.50  a  thousand  feet  for 
its  gas.  In  1871  the  price  was  $3.00  a  thousand;  and 
it  remained  at  that  price  until  1883,  when  it  was  re- 
duced to  $1.25. 

The  demand  for  gas  became  so  great  with  the 
growth  of  the  city  that  the  company  in  1867  erected 
new  works  on  the  North  Side,  on  Hawthorne  Street 
(now  Kingsbury  Street),  between  Haines,  Hobbie  and 
Crosby  Streets.  The  Monroe  Street  plant  was  de- 
stroyed in  the  Great  Fire  of  1871,  while  the  Haw- 
thorne Street  plant  was  at  that  time  saved  only  by  the 
greatest  exertions.  The  plant  on  Monroe  Street  was 
not  rebuilt  after  the  fire. 

The  Chicago  Gas  Light  &  Coke  Company  was 
merged  into  the  People's  Gas  Light  &  Coke  Company 
in  August,  1897,  pursuant  to  an  act  of  the  Legislature 
permitting  the  merger  of  seven  independent  and  more 
or  less  competitive  gas  companies  in  the  city  at  that 
time. 


Chicago  Almanac  and  Advertiser  for  1855 
gives  the  following  business  addresses  (including 
boarding-houses)  on  Monroe  Street: 

Mrs.  Hendee,  Boarding  House  —  43  Monroe  Street. 
Dr.  Thos.  Bryan  —  96  Monroe  Street. 

Dr.  C.  V.  Dyer—  N.  W.  corner  Monroe  and  Dear- 
born Streets. 


When 

Darkness 

Reigned 


Early 
Gas  Rates 


Street 
Addresses 
in  '55 


15 


Street 
Addresses 


William 
Goldie 


La  Salle 

Street  not 

Opened 

Through 


J.  A.  Kent,  Perfumer  —  105  Monroe  Street. 

Elizabeth  Brock,  Boarding  House  —  143  Monroe 
Street. 

Thos.  Milner,  Builder  —  171  Monroe  Street. 

H.  Bradford,  Grocer  —  181  Monroe  Street. 

Miss  S.  A.  Heath,  Select  School—  186  Monroe 
Street. 

This  school  was  taken  down  in  1855  to  make  room 
for  the  construction  of  North's  Circus,  referred  to 
on  Page  24. 

Wm.  Goldie,  Manufacturer  of  Sashes,  Doors  and 
Blinds  —  216  Monroe  Street,  beside  the  Gas  Works. 

Watson  &  Ross,  Builders  —  219  Monroe  Street. 

W.  Dorchester,  Lumber  Yard  —  Corner  of  Market 
and  Monroe  Streets. 


William  Goldie,  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  list, 
me  here  from  Scotland,  and  in  1852  started  in 
business  as  a  building  contractor.  In  1853  he  added  the 
sash,  door  and  blind  factory  on  Monroe  Street  (about 
where  Franklin  Street  is  now  opened  through).  In 
1861  he  sold  out  and  served  through  the  Civil  War, 
later  returning  to  his  old  business. 

He  built  the  first  business  block  after  the  fire,  the 
old  Marshall  Field  Building,  State  and  Washington 
Streets.  Among  his  other  buildings  was  University 
Hall  at  the  State  University,  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan. 

{TTIn  the  Fifties  Monroe  Street  was  pretty  well  out 
<-^in  the  suburbs.  Gager's  City  Directory  Map  1856-7 
shows  that  LaSalle  Street  was  open  at  that  time  from 
the  river  only  as  far  south  as  Madison  Street;  but 
Bailey  &  Company's  City  Directory  1859-60  shows 
LaSalle  Street  opened  through  across  Monroe  Street 
to  the  south  branch  of  the  river. 


16 


Until  1853  Dearborn  Street  was  open  only  as  far 
south  as  Madison  Street.  In  that  year  the  east  half 
of  the  street  (33  feet)  was  opened  through  to  Monroe 
Street  by  consent  of  the  property  owners,  those  on 
the  west  side  of  the  street  successfully  fighting  the 
opening  of  the  west  half. 

It  was  not  until  a  considerable  time  after  the  Chi- 
cago Fire  that  the  full  width  of  Dearborn  Street  was 
opened  through. 

Monroe  Street  in  the  early  days  was  not  paved, 
a  matter  of  fact,  until  1848  all  of  the  Chicago 
streets  were  simply  country  roads.  After  that  date 
planking  was  put  down  on  some  of  the  streets,  but 
not  as  far  out  as  Monroe  Street. 

Andreas,  in  his  History  of  Chicago,  under  the  head- 
ing "A  Complete  Record  of  Street  Improvements 
from  1857  to  1871,"  makes  the  following  references  to 
Monroe  Street: 

From  State  Street  to  Michigan  Avenue — Wooden 
block  pavement  1867. 

From  Clark  Street  to  Market  Street — Wooden 
blocks  1869. 

From  State  Street  to  Clark  Street — Wooden  blocks 
1870. 

The  first  asphalt  pavement  ever  laid  in  Chicago 
was  put  down  by  J.  L.  Fulton  &  Company  in  the 
spring  of  1870  at  the  intersection  of  Clark  and  Monroe 
Streets. 

It  appears  that  in  the  latter  part  of  the  Fifties  and 
in  the  Sixties  South  Wells  Street  (Fifth  Avenue)  from 
Madison  Street  to  Van  Buren  Street  was  largely  the 
resort  of  the  vicious  and  criminal  elements  of  the  city. 
One  contemporary  author  describes  that  section  of 
the  street  as  "an  aggregation  of  vileness." 


Dearborn 

Street 

Opened 


No 
Pavements 


Monroe 

Street 

Pavement 


Chicago's 
Tenderloin 


17 


AN  OLD  TAVERN 


Similar  to  "Under  the  Willow" 
owned  by  Roger  Plant 


18 


"Roger  Plant's  'Under  the  Willow,'  southeast 
corner  of  Wells  and  Monroe  Streets,"  quoting  from 
Bygone  Days  in  Chicago  by  Frederick  Francis  Cook, 
"was  the  very  core  of  this  corruption.  Originally 
'Under  the  Willow'  applied  only  to  the  corner  build- 
ing. But,  with  the  progress  of  the  war  .  .  .  one  ad- 
joining rookery  after  another,  both  to  the  east  and  to 
the  south,  was  added  until  the  name  applied  to  nearly 
half  a  block;  and  Police  Captain  Jack  Nelson  dubbed 
it  'Roger's  Barracks.' 

"Patrols  were  never  at  a  loss  where  to  look  for 
'strays'  from  the  outlying  camps,  though  this  was  by 
no  means  always  the  same  as  finding  them,  for  Roger 
maintained  a  very  thorough  outpost  system;  and  it 
was  only  by  approaching  these  delectable  precincts  in 
character  as  sheep  ready  for  the  shearing  that  an 
alarm  could  be  forestalled  and  escape  from  the 
labyrinth  by  devious  passages  and  alleyways  cut 
off." 

It  appears  to  have  been  the  popular  belief  at  the 
time  that  there  was  a  tunnel  running  from  this  saloon 
under  Wells  Street  to  the  shanties  and  rookeries  which 
then  filled  the  district  between  Wells  Street  (Fifth 
Avenue)  and  the  river. 

To  quote  further  from  Bygone  Days  in  Chicago: 
"Roger  was  a  diminutive  Yorkshireman,  whereas 
Mrs.  Plant,  a  graduate  from  the  purlieus  of  Liverpool, 
easily  balanced  two  of  him  on  the  scales,  with  some- 
thing left  over. 

"In  his  small  way  Roger  was  quite  a  character. 
Calling  his  place  'Under  the  Willow'  showed  his 
sentimental  side."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  was  a 
large  willow  tree  standing  in  Monroe  Street,  along- 
side Roger  Plant's  saloon  at  that  time. 


Under  the 
Willow 


Labyrinths 

and 

Tunnels 


Mrs. 
Plant 


19 


BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  OF  CHICAGO  IN  1857 
*  Indicates  present  location  of  Central  Trust  Company  of  Illinois 


Through  courtesy  of  Chicago  Historical  Society 

20 


Mr.  Cook  goes  on  to  say:  "And  then  there  was    Why  Not? 
Roger  the  humorist.     Every  window-pane  of  the  den 
displayed  on  a  flaring  blue  shade,  in  large  gilt  letters,  the 
legend  'Why  Not?'     It  is  needless  to  say  that  the 
phrase  acquired  a  large  street  currency. 

"The  place  was  a  refuge  for  the  very  nethermost 
strata  of  the  underworld  —  the  refuse  of  the  bridewell. 
Only  by  seeking  the  bottom  of  the  malodorous  river 
could  its  inmates  go  lower  —  as  they  sometimes 
did. 

"So  evil   a   name   did   this   thoroughfare   [Wells  Change 

Street]  acquire  from  its  belongings  that  later,  to  fit  in  Name 

it  for  trade,  it  was,  on  petition  of  fronting  property  °f  Street 
owners,  fumigated  into  Fifth  Avenue." 

The  Great  Fire  of  1871  performed  a  valuable 
service  in  cleaning  out  this  district. 

While  Mr.  Cook  states  that  Under  the  Willow  was 
the  southeast  corner  of  Monroe  and  Wells 
Streets  both  Mr.  Kerfoot  and  Mr.  Dickinson  clearly 
remember  that  it  was  located  on  the  northeast  corner 
of  Monroe  and  Wells  Streets;  while  another  early  set- 
tler was  uncertain  as  to  the  exact  location,  but  was 
inclined  to  the  belief  that  it  was  on  the  southeast 
corner. 

To  settle  the  matter,  the  following  letter  was 
secured  from  Herman  F.  Schuettler,  First  Deputy 
Superintendent  of  Police: 

"The  records  in  the  City  Clerk's  Office  show  that  a    Conflicting 
license  for  saloon  was  issued  to  Roger  Plant,  171  South    Testimony 
Wells  Street.    The  records  in  the  City  Map  Depart-    Settled 
ment  show  that  171  South  Wells  Street  was  at  that 
time  located  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Wells  and 
Monroe  Streets." 


21 


^ 


^yOjMSKtC' 

33S£S^ 

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SfcrSBF**?  ' 

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r  wv  «35-/ 

i<<A'    ^ 


NORTH'S  CIRCUS 


22 


April  4,  1855,  North's  Circus  came  to  the  city 
,  after  performing  on  a  vacant  lot,  Levi  J.  North 
and  Harry  Turner,  the  owners,  erected  a  two-story 
frame  theater  on  the  south  side  of  Monroe  Street, 
east  of  Wells  Street  (Fifth  Avenue).  The  building 
had  90  feet  frontage  on  Monroe  Street  and  was  206 
feet  deep. 

It  contained  a  performing  ring  42  feet  in  diameter 
and  seated  3,062  people.  In  the  rear  of  the  building 
there  were  stables  for  the  horses  used  in  connection 
with  the  performances. 

In  1856  C.  R.  Thorne  became  manager,  and  changed 
the  name  to  National  Theater.  He  engaged  a  stock 
company,  and  the  theater  was  fitted  up  for  legitimate 
dramatic  work. 

In  1857  the  place  was  re-adapted  to  equestrian  and 
spectacular  entertainments,  but  was  soon  again  trans- 
formed into  a  legitimate  theater,  and  was  opened  as 
such  in  1857  by  J.  H.  Wallack  in  Othello,  Virginius  and 
similar  plays.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  F.  Drew  appeared 
there  in  May,  1858. 

The  house  ceased  to  be  profitable  in  1859,  and, 
after  many  changes,  was  sold.  The  building  was 
allowed  to  fall  into  disrepair,  but  was  temporarily 
occupied  in  1864  by  two  companies  of  soldiers  while 
waiting  to  be  paid  off. 

In  1868  the  building  was  torn  down  and  a  brick 
business  block  erected  in  its  place. 

tJPA  large  map  of  Chicago  in  1857,  hanging  in  the 
^»  rooms  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  shows  both 
sides  of  Monroe  Street,  from  the  River  to  the  Lake, 
lined  with  frame  buildings,  practically  all  dwellings. 
The  block  in  which  the  Central  Trust  Company  of 
Illinois  is  now  located,  for  instance,  was  occupied  by 


North's 
Circus 


Wallack 

Plays 

There 


Bird's 
Eye  View 
of  Chicago 
in  1857 


23 


VIEW  LOOKING  SOUTH  FROM  COURT  HOUSE  TOWER   1858 


The  first  arrow  indicates  the  home  of 
Fernando  Jones,  site  of  Central  Trust 
Co.  The  second  arrow  North's  Circus 


By  courtesy  of  the 
Chicago  Historical  Society 


24 


eight  such  dwellings,  one  of  which,  on  the  corner  of 
Clark  Street,  fronted  on  Clark  Street,  while  the  other 
seven  fronted  on  Monroe  Street. 

The  next  block  west  shows  a  frame  house  on  the 
southwest  corner  of  LaSalle  Street  and  a  small  frame 
building  just  west  of  that;  while  nearer  Wells  Street 
(Fifth  Avenue)  stood  North's  Circus. 


Chicago 
in  1858 


picture  on  the  opposite  page  was  taken  from 
the  tower  of  the  Court  House,  in  1858,  looking  south- 
east. The  building  most  conspicuous  in  the  foreground 
is  the  First  Baptist  Church,  then  located  on  Wash- 
ington Street,  corner  of  LaSalle  Street,  on  the  present 
site  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

In  1864  this  church  was  taken  down  and  re-erected 
at  the  southwest  corner  of  Morgan  and  Monroe  Streets, 
becoming  the  Second  Baptist  Church. 

The  arrow  pointing  downward  at  the  left  indicates 
Fernando  Jones'  home,  on  the  present  site  of  the 
Central  Trust  Company  of  Illinois,  on  Monroe  Street; 
whereas  the  arrow  to  the  right  points  to  North's 
Circus,  on  Monroe  Street. 

(IT  The  following  were  some  of  the  people  living  on 
^Monroe  Street  in  the  later  Fifties  and  in  the 
Sixties: 

On  the  northwest  corner  of  Monroe  Street  and 
Michigan  Avenue  lived  Hiram  Wheeler,  one  of  the 
incorporators  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  1863 
and  a  Director  of  the  Board  of  Trade  1859-60. 

Directly  back  of  this  house,  on  the  northeast  corner 
of  Monroe  and  Wabash,  lived  E.  H.  Haddock,  who 
came  to  Chicago  in  1833  and  started  a  bakery,  later 
establishing  a  grain  warehousing  business. 


Homes 
of  Old 
Settlers 


University 
Club 


Powers 
Building 


25 


AT  THE  MAISON  DOREE 


a  drawing  made  from 
description    by    old  settler 


26 


Across  the  street,  on  the  southwest  corner  of 
Monroe  Street  and  Michigan  Avenue,  lived  Walter 
S.  Gurney,  President  of  the  Chicago  Hide  &  Leather 
Company. 

On  the  southeast  corner  of  Wabash  Avenue  and 
Monroe  Street  was  a  good-sized  frame  colonial  house, 
surrounded  by  large  trees  and  shrubbery  and  setting 
well  back  from  the  street.  This  was  the  home  of  Eli 
B.  Williams. 

Eli  B.  Williams  came  to  Chicago  in  1833,  and 
erected  a  small  frame  grocery  on  South  Water  Street. 
In  1834  he  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  St.  James 
Episcopal  Church.  In  1836  he  was  a  member  of  the 
original  Chicago  Charter  Commission.  In  1844  he 
became  Register  of  the  U.  S.  Land  Office  here.  In 
1852  his  name  appears  as  one  of  the  Directors  in  the 
Chicago  Gas  Light  &  Coke  Company,  while  in  1853 
he  was  appointed  Receiver  for  Government  funds  in 
Chicago. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  Sixties  Mr.  Williams 
rented  his  home  to  Mrs.  William  J.  (Anne  J.)  Johnson, 
who  conducted  a  ladies'  restaurant  and  ice  cream 
parlor  there  until  the  time  of  the  fire. 

The  restaurant  was  known  as  the  Maison  Doree 
(gilded  house),  and  was  thoroughly  high-class  in  its 
appointments  and  service. 

Many  prominent  men  are  still  living  who  used  to 
take  their  sweethearts  to  Mrs.  Johnson's  for  ice  cream 
on  warm  summer  nights. 

On  the  southwest  corner  of  Wabash  Avenue  and 
Monroe  Street  lived  Mr.  Horatio  N.  Heald,  land 
agent,  one  of  the  prominent  men  of  that  time. 

On  the  northwest  corner  of  Wabash  and  Monroe 
was  a  house — originally  a  frame  house,  but  a  brick 


Monroe 
Building 
Site 


Williams 
Building 
Site 


Maison 
Doree 


Goddard 
Building 
Site 


27 


Windsor- 
Clifton 
Hotel 
Site 


Dr.  Gibbs 


Clairvoyants 


Palmer 
House 

De  Jonghe 
Hotel 


Mentor 
Building 


house  was  later  erected— owned  by  Mr.  Joel  C. 
Walter  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  who  rented  it  to  Mr. 
Rogers  of  Walter  &  Rogers,  coal  dealers  at  the  corner 
of  Monroe  and  Market  Streets. 

James  Carter,  the  father  of  Leslie  Carter,  later 
lived  in  this  corner  brick  house. 

Mr.  Walter  himself  lived  right  back  (west)  of  the 
corner  house,  on  the  corner  of  the  alley  on  the  north 
side  of  Monroe  Street. 

Just  west  of  Mr.  Heald,  across  the  street  (on  the 
south  side  of  Monroe,  west  of  Wabash)  and  on  the 
corner  of  the  alley,  lived  Mr.  John  S.  Gould,  who  had  a 
shoe  shop  (No.  38  Monroe);  while  just  west  of  him 
lived  Dr.  Aaron  Gibbs,  dentist,  who  came  here  in 
1845  and  was  one  of  the  active  anti-slavery  men  in 
the  city  during  the  Fifties. 

Across  the  alley,  east  of  State  Street,  lived  a  clair- 
voyant. The  only  information  which  we  have  been 
able  to  definitely  establish  regarding  her,  from  reliable 
witnesses  (men)  is  that  she  was  good-looking! 

Between  this  clairvoyant  and  the  southeast  corner 
of  State  and  Monroe  Streets  was  another  clairvoyant, 
Madam  Canfield. 

On  the  southeast  corner  of  State  and  Monroe 
Streets  lived  the  George  Anderson  family. 

On  the  north  side  of  Monroe  Street,  between 
Wabash  and  State  Streets,  west  of  the  alley,  lived  Asa 
Woodcock,  commission  merchant  on  South  Water 
Street. 

On  the  northeast  corner  of  State  and  Monroe 
Streets  stood  a  little  frame  bakery. 

On  the  northwest  corner  of  State  and  Monroe 
Streets  stood  the  brick  grocery  store  of  W.  F.  McLaugh- 


28 


lin,  who  later  sold  his  grocery  business  to  Dr.  Levi  D. 
Boone's  sons,  while  he  himself  went  into  the  coffee 
and  spice  business. 

Dr.  Boone  was  Mayor  in  1855.  He  made  the  first 
appointment  of  a  detective  in  Chicago  by  appointing 
Allan  Pinkerton. 

f  *_ 

George  Boomer  had  a  blacksmith  shop  where  the 
Majestic  Theater  now  stands  (71  Monroe),  and  Henry 
Brinkworth  a  pork  shop  next  west  (73  Monroe). 

On  the  southwest  corner  of  State  and  Monroe 
Streets  stood  J.  D.  Bain's  brick  drug  store;  and  di- 
rectly west  were  the  two-story  brick  stables  of  the 
American  Express  Company. 

Isaac  W.  and  Dean  Bangs,  stove  manufacturers, 
occupied  the  property  next  west  of  the  Express  Com- 
pany's property. 

West  of  Bangs  Brothers,  at  what  was  then  the  end 
of  Dearborn  Street,  stood  a  boarding-house  and  saloon 
kept  by  Silas  C.  Lum. 

Next  west  to  the  Post  Office  (northwest  corner 
Monroe  and  Dearborn),  in  a  red  brick  building,  was 
a  saloon,  kept  by  Thomas  C.  Grayson. 

A  few  doors  west  of  Grayson's,  at  121-7  Monroe 
Street,  was  the  second-hand  book  store  and  news 
depot  of  Bamford  &  Baldwin. 

On  the  northeast  corner  of  Clark  and  Monroe 
Streets  was  the  Eureka  Saloon,  kept  by  Augustus 
Dickerson. 

On  the  southeast  corner  of  Monroe  and  LaSalle 
Streets,  where  the  Borland  Building  now  stands, 
lived  Charles  Schaefer. 

Freeman  M.  Williams,  a  carpenter,  lived  at  173 
Monroe  Street  and  apparently  also  kept  a  boarding- 
house  there. 


North 

American 

Building 


Majestic 
Theater 


Pike 

Building 

Site 


American 

Trust 

Building 

Borland 
Building 


29 


At  183  Monroe  Street,  east  of  Wells,  was  a  saloon 
kept  by  a  notorious  colored  man  by  the  name  of  Steve 
Stamp. 

Sinai     CJTln  ^ne  fa^  °f  I860  there  was  a  strong  reform  move- 
Congregation      *->^ment  among  the  Jews  in  Chicago,  and  a  considerable 
and  Temple     number  of  members  of  the  older  congregations  with- 
drew and  formed  the  Sinai  Congregation. 

Their  first  temple  was  a  one-story  frame  building, 
about  50  feet  wide  and  80  feet  deep,  on  the  north  side 
of  Monroe  Street,  just  east  of  where  LaSalle  Street 
was  later  opened  through. 

This  building  was  originally  erected  for  Trinity 
Episcopal  Church  on  Madison  Street.  It  was  moved 
to  its  location  on  Monroe  Street  for  the  Sinai  Congre- 
gation, who  leased  it  from  Benjamin  Lombard,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Real  Estate  Loan  &  Trust  Company,  in 
1861.  The  building  was  dedicated  as  Sinai  Temple 
on  June  21,  1861. 

Mr.  Joseph  L.  Gatzert,  of  111  West  Monroe  Street, 
and  his  wife  were  the  first  couple  that  were  married  in 
this  first  temple  of  the  Sinai  Congregation. 

The  regular  Saturday  services  were  conducted  in 
this  building  by  the  congregation  until  1863,  when 
larger  quarters  were  secured  on  the  northwest  corner  of 
Van  Buren  and  Dearborn  Streets. 

This  large  and  prosperous  congregation  is  now 
housed  in  the  imposing  temple  on  the  southwest  corner 
of  Grand  Boulevard  and  46th  Street. 

Dr.  Hirsch  Dr.  Emil  G.  Hirsch  has  presided  over  the  congre- 

gation since  July,  1880. 

The  testimony  of  the  early  settlers  consulted  differs 
as  to  whether  the  first  frame  temple,  after  LaSalle 
Street  was  opened  through,  was  located  on  the 


First 

Couple 

Married 


30 


31 


Winter 
Garden 
Theater 


Minstrel 
Head- 
quarters 


Martine's 
Dance  Hall 


Central 

Trust  Site 

in  the 

Fifties 


northwest  or  on  the  northeast  corner  of  LaSalle  and 
Monroe  Streets. 

n  the  northwest  corner  of  Clark  and  Monroe 

'Streets,  before  the  Fire,  stood  a  brick  building,  the 
lower  floor  of  which  was  occupied  by  a  saloon,  pawn- 
broker shop  and  barber  shop,  the  upper  part  being 
known  as  the  Winter  Garden  Theater  (named  after  a 
popular  New  York  theater  of  that  day). 

The  upper  floor  was  also  used  as  Democratic 
headquarters,  and  was  sometimes  referred  to  as  Demo- 
cratic Hall. 

The  property  was  originally  owned  by  Solomon 
Witkowsky,  and  during  the  later  Fifties  and  early 
Sixties  the  hall  was  known  as  Witkowsky  Hall. 

This  hall  appears  to  have  been  minstrel  head- 
quarters in  those  days,  as  the  city  directories  locate 
a  minstrel  company  there  with  J.  H.  Haverly  as 
manager;  while  Billy  Arlington,  who  was  then  a  fa- 
mous minstrel  and  played  there  repeatedly,  became  so 
closely  identified  with  the  place  that  it  was  frequently 
referred  to  in  the  prints  of  that  time  as  Arlington 
Hall. 

'Upstairs,  on  the  corner  diagonally  opposite  the 
^Winter  Garden  Theater,  i.  e.,  the  southeast  corner 
of  Monroe  and  Clark  Streets,  there  was  located,  before 
the  Fire,  a  very  popular  dancing  hall,  conducted  by 
Mr.  J.  Edwin  Martine. 


picture  on  the  opposite  page  represents  two 
rame  buildings  which  occupied  the  present  site 
of  the  Central  Trust  Company  of  Illinois.  They  were 
burned  down  in  the  fire  of  1871. 

The  building  on  the  right  was  erected  in  1833  and 
was  moved  on  this  lot  in  1835. 


32 


RESIDENCE  OF  FERNANDO  JONES  (at  the  left) 

Both  of  the  above  frame  houses  stood  on  the  lot  now  occupied  by  the  Central  Trust  Company  of 
Illinois  until  they  were  destroyed  by  the  Fire  of  1871 


Site  of  Central  Trust 
Company  of   Illinois 


Through  the  courtesy  of 
Mr.  Frank   W.  Smith 


33 


Fernando 
Jones' 
Home 


Old 
Post  Office 


Dr.  Dyer's 
Home 


Honest 
Construction 


The  building  on  the  left  was  erected  in  1850  and 
was  moved  on  this  lot  in  1855.  From  1856  to  1868  it 
was  the  residence  of  Fernando  Jones,  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Chicago. 

According  to  the  city  maps  of  1865,  the  First  Ward 
that  time  extended  from  the  River  south  to  the 
center  of  Monroe  Street,  while  the  Second  Ward 
extended  south  from  the  center  of  Monroe  Street  to  the 
center  of  Harrison  Street. 


opposite  picture  shows  the  Post  Office  and  Cus- 
House,  which  stood  on  the  northwest  corner  of 
Dearborn  and  Monroe  Streets  in  the  Sixties.  The 
main  entrances  were  on  Dearborn  Street.  There 
was  an  alley  on  the  west  and  north  sides  of  this  build- 
ing, running  in  the  shape  of  an  L,  from  Monroe  Street 
to  Dearborn  Street.  At  the  angle  of  this  alley  Andrews' 
Restaurant  flourished  for  several  years. 

The  site  upon  which  the  Post  Office  was  built  was 
formerly  occupied  by  Dr.  C.  V.  Dyer  as  a  residence. 
Dr.  Dyer  received  $26,000  from  the  Government  for 
his  home. 

An  appropriation  for  this  Post  Office  was  made  by 
Congress  in  1855  in  the  amount  of  $84,000.  By  the  time 
the  building  was  finished,  in  1860,  instead  of  costing 
$84,000,  as  originally  contemplated,  it  cost  $243,000. 
It  was  opened  for  business  on  November  23,  1860. 

The  building  appears  to  have  been  very  sub- 
stantially constructed.  Henry  A.  Hurlbut,  in  his 
Chicago  Antiquities,  quotes  as  follows  from  an  editorial 
in  the  Chicago  Times  in  1881  regarding  the  Post  Office: 

"It  was  erected  before  the  era  of  public  robbery  set 
in,  and  consequently  it  was  substantial  to  a  degree 
unknown  in  this  age  and  generation  of  public  works. 


34 


THE  POST  OFFICE  AND  CUSTOM  HOUSE 
Located,  before  the  Fire,  on  the  corner  where  the  First  National  Bank  now  stands 


From  an  old  colored  etching,  through  the 
courtesy  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society 


35 


Light  vs. 
Protection 


Some  of 

Dr.  Dyer's 

Traits 


The  Doctor's 
Fence 


.  .  .  Had  it  not  been  for  the  fact  that  the  iron  shutters 
on  the  west  side  of  the  building  had  been  taken  off  to 
give  more  light  in  the  lower  stories,  it  would  have  with- 
stood the  fury  of  the  flames  on  that  fearful  October 
day"  [October  9,  1871]. 

Henry  A.  Hurlbut,  who  was  a  witness  of  the 
demolition  of  these  walls,  goes  on  to  say  in  his  book 
that,  when  the  walls  were  finally  removed  in  August, 
1881,  to  make  room  for  the  brick  building  erected  at 
that  time  on  this  site  by  the  First  National  Bank: 
"Every  block  or  parcel  of  material  removed  proclaims 

HONEST  MATERIAL  and  HONEST  LABOR." 

The  number  of  clerks  employed  in  the  Post  Office 
in  1866  was  106.  Today  the  number  of  clerks  is  3,931 
and  the  number  of  carriers  2,069,  making  a  total  of 
6,000  employes. 

r.  Dyer  (see  p.  34)  appears  to  have  been  one  of 
he  sturdy  old  settlers  of  Chicago.  His  name  appears 
in  the  City  Directory  of  1839  as  City  Physician. 
Those  who  knew  him  represent  him  as  having  been  a 
bluff,  hearty  gentleman  of  the  old  school  who  was  very 
strong  in  his  likes  and  dislikes  and  very  free  to  ex- 
press them,  but  fair  and  square  as  a  man  could  be. 

He  was  often  consulted  by  real  estate  attorneys 
on  account  of  his  intimate  knowledge  of  land  conditions 
about  Chicago,  derived  from  his  constant  trips  with 
his  horse  and  gig  to  patients  out  in  the  country. 

Upon  one  occasion  a  neighbor  remarked  to  Dr. 
Dyer  that  his  fence  did  not  look  so  white  that  spring 
as  usual.  The  Doctor,  who  was  a  prominent  aboli- 
tionist, promptly  replied  that  the  reason  for  it  was  that 
there  were  not  so  many  travelers  that  spring  over  the 
Underground  Railroad  from  the  South  to  Canada  who 
could  do  a  good  job  of  white-washing. 


36 


THE  DOCTOR  AND  HIS  HORSE  AND  GIG 


37 


Lombard    CJTAt  105'7  Monroe  Street,  just  west  of  the  Post 


Block 


Bessie 
Platt 


Knights  of 
Pythias 


Office  Building,  across  the  alley,  as  shown  on  the 
picture  on  page  35,  stood  the  handsome  Lombard  Block 
before  the  fire.  This  block  was  built  of  marble,  and 
was  almost  of  the  same  size  as  the  Post  Office. 

The  Real  Estate  Loan  &  Trust  Company,  of  which 
Mr.  Benjamin  Lombard  was  President,  had  its  offices 
in  this  building.  The  first  secret  service  office  in 
Chicago  also  had  its  quarters  in  the  Lombard  Block. 


.  William  P.  Campbell,  who  is  now  the  manager 
the  Central  Trust  Company  of  Illinois  Safe 
Deposit  Vaults,  in  1868  boarded  diagonally  across  the 
street  (toward  the  east)  from  the  present  location  of 
the  bank  on  Monroe  street  in  a  two-story  frame 
boarding-house  kept  by  Miss  Bessie  Platt. 

From  the  sidewalk  he  had  to  go  down  three  or  four 
steps  to  a  board  walk  leading  to  the  house.  After  the 
fire  of  1871  all  buildings  were  constructed  at  grade. 

fire  insurance  atlas  of  1869,  in  the  Historical 
Society's  archives,  shows  the  Eastman  National 
Business  College  located  in  a  three-story  building 
on  the  northeast  corner  of  Clark  and  Monroe 
Streets. 

This  college  at  that  time  was  reported  to  have 
about  1500  pupils,  and  was  the  western  branch  of  the 
eastern  institution  at  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  H.  G. 
Eastman,  L.  L.  D.,  President. 


first  lodge  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  in  Chicago 
Welcome  Lodge  No.  1,  which  held  its  meet- 
ings, in  1869,  and  from  then  on  until  the  Great  Fire, 
in  the  Grand  Lodge  Hall  located  on  the  top  floor  of 
the  three-story  and  high-basement  brick  building  at 
151-3  Monroe  Street,  directly  across  the  street  from 


38 


AN  AUCTION  SALE  OF  HOUSEHOLD  FURNITURE 


See  next  page 


39 


Knights  of 
Pythias 


Catholic 
Library 


the  present  location  of  the  Central  Trust  Company 
of 


Sidelights 
from 

Newspaper 
Ads 


Madam 
Ross 


The  Knights  of  Pythias  at  that  time  had  rented 
the  two  upper  floors  of  the  building,  using  the  top 
floor  themselves  and  subletting  the  floor  below  to 
the  Catholic  Library  Association. 

The  City  Directory  of  1870-1  shows  that  the 
Grand  Lodge  Hall  was  used  on  Thursday  evenings 
by  Welcome  Lodge  No.  1,  on  Tuesday  evenings  by 
Board  of  Trade  Lodge  No.  4,  and  on  Wednesday 
evenings  by  Cosmopolitan  Lodge  No.  6. 

The  Grand  Lodge  Hall  on  Monroe  Street  was  de- 
stroyed by  the  Great  Fire.  The  lodges  moved  into  a 
new  Grand  Lodge  Hall,  in  1873,  at  the  northwest 
corner  of  LaSalle  and  Adams  Streets. 

Among  the  very  few  display  advertisements  in  the 
newspapers  in  the  Sixties  having  reference  to  any 
business  or  occupation  of  any  kind  on  Monroe  Street, 
the  Chicago  Tribune,  under  date  of  May  11,  1869, 
contained  an  announcement  of  an  auction  sale  of 
"household  furniture,  pianoforte,  linen,  china,  glass 
and  effects  of  a  large  boarding-house  of  21  rooms,  at 
100  Monroe  St.,  opposite  the  Post  Office"  (then  at 
the  northwest  corner  of  Dearborn  and  Monroe  Streets). 

Another  advertisement  in  1869  announces  that 
Madam  Ross,  at  143  Monroe  Street,  near  Clark,  is 
"the  only  real  scientific  astrologist  in  the  West  .  .  . 
will  unfold  the  hidden  mysteries  of  the  past,  present 
and  future  .  .  .  will  bring  together  those  long  sep- 
arated and  cause  speedy  marriages." 

Monroe  Street  was  still  outside  of  the  business 
center  in  1870.    There  were  a  number  of  boarding- 
houses  on  the  street  before  the  Fire,  and  some  of  the 


40 


THE  NIGHT  OF  THE  GREAT  CHICAGO  FIRE 


These  walls  of  the  Court  House  were  saved 


41 


Rooming 
Places 


The  Chicago 
Fire 


Boarding- 
house 
Avenue 


business   buildings  above   the  first   stories  were   ar- 
ranged for  sleeping  rooms. 

On  the  southeast  corner  of  Monroe  and  Dearborn 
Streets,  for  instance,  there  was  such  a  five-story  brick 
building,  stone  front,  before  the  Fire,  known  as  the 
Shepard  Block.  The  building  had  no  elevators. 

On  the  night  of  the  Great  Fire  three  young  men, 
one  of  whom  was  Herbert  Darlington  of  Fred  S. 
James  &  Company,  were  sleeping  in  rooms  on  an 
upper  floor  of  this  building.  Mr.  Darlington  heard 
the  noise  of  the  engines  dashing  past  the  building, 
and  got  up  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  He  saw 
the  sheets  of  flame  and  showers  of  fire-brands  that 
at  that  hour  of  the  night  had  just  reached  the  river 
at  Harrison  Street.  Driven  by  a  strong  southwest 
wind,  the  embers  had  already  set  fire  to  some  of  the 
buildings  on  this  side  of  the  river. 

He  hastily  dressed  and  went  out  to  get  a  nearer 
look  at  the  fire,  but  promptly  returned  and  woke  up 
his  companions.  "We  had  better  get  out  of  this  in  a 
hurry,"  he  told  them,  "for  it  looks  as  if  the  whole 
thing  is  going  to  burn  down." 

His  judgment  in  the  matter  was  correct,  for  it 
took  but  a  very  short  time  for  the  fire  to  reach  that 
corner  and  consume  the  entire  building. 

already  appears  from  references  in  these  notes, 
Street  was  quite  a  boarding-house  street  in 
the  later  Fifties  and  in  the  Sixties. 

The  City  Directory  of  1859-60  gives  the  following 
boarding-houses  on  Monroe  Street,  besides  those  men- 
tioned elsewhere  in  these  pages: 

Nancy  Bishop,  No.  71;  Young  &  Van  Evera,  No. 
75;  Kate  Barmore,  No.  88;  Caroline  Amberg,  No.  117; 


42 


THE  SHEPARD   BLOCK 
Located  on  Southeast  Corner  Dearborn  and  Monroe  before  the   Fire 


From  a    photograph,    through 
the  courtesy  of  Mr.  C.  R.  Clark 


43 


Site  of  North 

American 

Building 


Majestic 
Theater  Site 


Harris 
Trust  Site 


Wm.   Sinclair,   No.    118;  Aurelia  Valiant,   No.    175; 
J.  B.  Sontag,  No.  185. 

copy  of  The  Underwriters'  Association  of  Chi- 
Publication  under  date  of  March  1,  1871,  (in 
the  possession  of  Herbert  Darlington)  shows  the  fol- 
lowing business  addresses  on  Monroe  Street  at  that 
time: 

65-9,  on  the  north  side  of  Monroe  Street,  corner  of 
State  Street,  Campbell,  McNellis  &  Campbell,  linens; 
and  Illinois  Soap  Stone  Stove  Co.  Saloon  in  basement. 

71  Monroe,  north  side  of  street,  corner  of  the  alley, 
between  State  and  Dearborn  Streets — R.  H.  Countiss, 
retail  grocery.     Boomer's  horseshoeing  shop  on  the    ) 
rear  of  the  same  Iol7~ 

73  Monroe  Street — Packing  house  of  Henry  Brink- 
worth. 

72-4  Monroe  Street  —  American  Express  Co.'s 
stables.  Before  the  fire  these  stables  were  located 
on  the  corner  of  the  alley  on  the  south  side  of  Monroe 
Street,  between  State  and  Dearborn,  where  their 
offices  stand  today. 

Rear  of  No.  75 — Steam  bakery  of  Blake,  Warren  & 
Co. 

88  Monroe  Street — Mrs.  McClure's  Laundry. 

139-41,  on  the  north  side  of  the  street,  just  west  of 
the  corner  of  Clark  Street — Marder  Luse  &  Co.,  type 
founders. 

140-2  Monroe  Street — Frank  Sturges  &  Co.,  metals 
and  tinners'  stock. 

151-3  Monroe  Street — Offices  and  rooms  of  the 
Catholic  Library  (opposite  present  location  of  Cen- 
tral Trust  Company  of  Illinois). 


44 


THE  EXPOSITION  BUILDING 
This  building  stood  on  the  Lake  Front  from  1873  to  1892 


Site  of  the  present  Art  Institute — 
from  an  old  Architectural  Drawing 


45 


North's  180-2,  on  the  south  side  of  Monroe  Street,  between 

Circus  Site     LaSalle   and   Wells    (Fifth   Avenue)    Streets— R.    P. 
Appleby's  Steam  Picture  Frame  Factory. 

184-6  Monroe  Street,  in  the  same  block,  near  Wells 
Street  (Fifth  Avenue) — H.  E.  Robinson,  Agent,  Steam 
Flour  Mill. 

The  two  foregoing  addresses  were  in  a  brick  build- 
ing located  on  the  old  site  of  North's  Circus. 

On  the  north  side  of  Monroe  Street,  in  the  rear  of 
No.  185,  on  the  corner  of  the  alley  between  LaSalle 
and  Wells  (Fifth  Avenue)  Streets — Tobacco  Factory  of 
John  Watt. 

205-7,  on  the  north  side  of  Monroe  Street,  at  the 
intersection  of  Wells  Street  (Fifth  Avenue) — Stables 
of  the  United  States  Express  Co. 

226  Monroe  Street,  between  Wells  (Fifth  Avenue) 
and  Market  Streets,  south  side  of  street — Brown  Bros., 
Vaults  and  Lights. 

228-30,  south  side  of  street,  on  the  corner  of  Market 
Street — Chicago  Gas  Light  &  Coke  Co.'s  works. 

247-9  Monroe  Street— John  V.  Farwell  Co. 

Exposition      CTIn  1873  there  was  erected  on  the  Lake  Front  an 

Building      ^Exposition  Building,  intended,  originally,  for  an 

annual  exposition  of  industrial  products  of  Illinois  and 

adjoining  states.     This  building  covered  the  block  from 

Monroe  Street  to  Adams  Street,  between  Michigan 

Avenue  and  the  Illinois  Central  tracks.    Among  the 

principal  promoters  and  contributors  were  Cyrus  H. 

McCormick,  Potter  Palmer  and  R.  T.  Crane. 

The  Common  Council  granted  permission  to  the 
company  to  use  the  Lake  Front  for  one  year,  and 
periodically  extended  this  permit.  The  Exposition 
lost  money  at  first,  but  became  self-sustaining  in  1877. 

46 


i    <:,  M 

*  iWiiisI^ 


GRAND  OPERA   IN  CHICAGO  IN   1885 

47 


Troubles          When  the  company  paid  its  first  dividend,  the 
Begin     Common  Council  demanded  rent.    A  long  period  of 
tribulation  then  set  in,  the  Common  Council  demand- 
ing $15,000  a  year  and  back  rent  amounting  to  $90,000. 
This  rent  question  was  finally  settled  in  1885  by  the 
payment  of  an  annual  rental  of  $1,000  to  the  city. 
Theodore          Beginning  in  1877,  Theodore  Thomas  gave  a  series 
Thomas     of  summer  night  concerts  in  this  building. 

In  April,  1885,  the  Chicago  Opera  Festival  Associa- 
tion constructed  an  immense  auditorium  in  the  build- 
ing, seating  10,000  people,  and  gave  a  successful 
season  of  opera  at  popular  prices. 

The  Exposition  Building  was  finally  taken  down  to 
make  room  for  the  Art  Institute,  erected  in  1892. 

'In  February,  1874,  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railway, 

•which  at  that  time  obtained  an  entrance  to  the  city 
over  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  tracks,  rented  the 
northeast  corner  of  the  old  Exposition  Building. 

Access  to  this  depot  was  obtained  through  an  en- 
trance to  the  Exposition  Building  on  Michigan  Avenue, 
leading  through  a  long  hallway  alongside  the  Monroe 
Street  wall  of  the  building. 

The  railroad  used  this  depot  until  1877,  at  which 
time  they  built  a  brick  station  just  across  the  street, 
on  the  north  side  of  Monroe  Street,  adjoining  the 
Illinois  Central  tracks. 

The  B.  &  O.  Railroad  occupied  this  depot  until 
1880,  when  they  moved  to  the  Grand  Central  Station, 
on  Harrison  Street. 

Music     ^JTMusic  festivals  were  important  events  in  Chicago 
Festivals      U^after  the  Fire. 

The  second  music  festival,  or  jubilee,  as  it  was  then 
called,  was  held  in  1876  in  the  Moody  and  Sankey 
Tabernacle  on  Monroe  Street. 


Baltimore 

&  Ohio 

Railway 

Depot 


48 


This  jubilee  was  held  under  the  joint  auspices  of 
the  Apollo  Club  and  Theodore  Thomas.  Myron  W. 
Whitney  and  Anna  Louise  Carey  were  among  the 
soloists. 

The  Moody  and  Sankey  Tabernacle  was  erected 
on  the  south  side  of  Monroe  Street,  in  the  center  of 
the  block  between  Franklin  and  Market  Streets,  in 
1876.  The  tabernacle  was  a  two-story  building  with  a 
temporary  roof.  It  seated  8,000  people. 

In  1877,  after  the  tabernacle  ceased  to  be  used  for 
religious  and  musical  purposes,  the  roof  was  removed 
and  three  stories  were  added.  The  building  was  then 
fitted  up  for  six  stores,  and  can  readily  be  distinguished 
today  by  the  iron  columns  along  the  entire  first  story 
front. 

JJTThe  five-story  stone  building  still  standing  on  the 
^southwest  corner  of  Franklin  and  Monroe  Streets 
was  then  occupied  by  Sweet  &  Dempster,  hats  and 
caps. 

Before  the  Fire  this  same  corner  was  occupied  by 
the  saloon  and  hotel  conducted  there  for  many  years 
by  Jake  Wolfner. 

Among  some  of  the  more  important  buildings  that 
ere  erected  on  Monroe  Street  soon  after  the  great 
fire  in  1871  were  the  following  (our  information  being 
derived  partly  from  the  files  of  The  Land  Owner  of  that 
time;  from  Rebuilt  Chicago,  1873,  by  Wing  &  Com- 
pany; from  Industrial  Chicago,  Goodspeed  Pub- 
lishing Company;  and  partly  from  recollections  of 
owners  and  tenants)  : 

1.  The  Bryan  Block  —  four  stories  and  high  base- 
ment, on  the  northwest  corner  of  LaSalle  and  Monroe 
Streets.  Among  the  tenants  of  this  building  at  that 


Moody 
and 
Sankey 
Tabernacle 


After  the 
Fire 


49 


Northern 

Trust 

Site 


Fort 

Dearborn 
Building 


Pike 
Building 


First 

Fireproof 

Building 


Stood  the 
Test 


time  were  the  Northwestern  Insurance  Company  and 
the  Globe  Insurance  Company  of  Chicago. 

Dr.  Bryan  had  completed  an  office  building  on  this 
corner  only  a  few  months  before  the  fire,  which  en- 
tirely destroyed  it,  and  he  at  once  rebuilt. 

2.  The  Foot  Block,  on  the  southwest  corner  of 
Clark  and  Monroe  Streets.   The  first  floor  of  this  build- 
ing was  occupied  by   H.   H.   Husted   &   Company, 
clothiers,  who  had  been  in  business  here  since  1843. 

3.  The   southwest   corner   of  State   and   Monroe 
Streets,  a  full  five-story  stone  and  iron  building  erected 
by  E.  S.  Pike.     The  first  floor  was  occupied  by  N. 
Matson  &  Company,  jewelers,  and  the  upper  floors 
by  A.  H.  Andrews  &  Company,  school  and  office  fur- 
niture.    This  building  is  still  standing. 

4.  At  the  time  of  the  Great  Fire,  in  1871,  the  north- 
east corner  of  Monroe  and  LaSalle  Streets,  now  the 
site  of  the  New  York  Life  Building,  was  occupied  by 
the  first  fireproof  building  ever  built  in  Chicago,  known 
as  the  Nixon  Building.     It  was  not  yet  finished,  but 
was  already  under  roof. 

The  building  was  so  little  damaged  by  the  fire  that 
it  was  finished  one  week  after  the  fire  and  occupied  at 
once  by  leading  architects  and  business  men.  It  was 
four  stories  high  above  a  high  basement,  and  after  the 
fire  it  bore  an  inscription  on  both  faces  of  the  stone 
pier  at  the  corner,  reading  as  follows: 

"This  fireproof  building  is  the  only  one  in  the  city 
that  successfully  stood  the  test  of  the  Great  Fire  of 
October  9,  1871." 

The  building  was  erected  by  W.  K.  Nixon,  who  had 
come  here  from  Cincinnati  nine  years  previous  to  the 
Fire.  Among  the  occupants  in  1873  were: 


50 


THE  HONORE  BLOCK  BEFORE  THE  FIRE 
Southwest  Corner  Monroe  and  Dearborn,  and  extending  to  Adams  Street 


In  the  distance,  the  Bigelow  House  (S.  W. 
Corner  Adams  and  Dearborn),  destroyed  in 
the  Great  Fire  of  1871,  on  the  very  day 
it  was  to  have  been  thrown  open  to  the  pub- 
lic.—Courtesy  of  Mr.  C.  R.  Clark 


51 


Tenants 
in  1871 


Elgin 

Watch 

Company 


Birthplace 
of  Central 
Trust  Com- 
pany of 
Illinois 


Otto  H.  Matz,  the  architect  of  the  building;  W.  H. 
Cunningham,  insurance  offices;  Ogden,  Sheldon  &  Co.; 
Goodrich,  Farmer  &  Co.,  fire  insurance;  Leopold  Mayer, 
banker;  and  Ogden  &  Scudder,  real  estate  loans. 

5.  The  American  Express  Company  on  the  south 
side  of  Monroe  Street,  near  State  Street. 

This  building,  erected  immediately  after  the  Fire, 
had  five  stories  and  a  high  mansard  roof.  H.  H. 
Richardson,  the  noted  Boston  architect,  contributed 
the  front  of  this  building  as  his  ideal  of  American  style. 
On  the  first  floor  the  Express  Company  occupied  37  by 
70  feet.  The  remainder  of  the  front  on  that  floor  was 
occupied  by  two  stores.  The  entire  rear  of  the  building 
was  given  up  to  the  Express  Company's  purposes. 

Above  the  Express  Company's  quarters  was  the 
National  (Elgin)  Watch  Company. 

This  building  was  remodelled  in  1896  by  the  re- 
moval of  the  high  mansard  roof  and  addition  of  two 
more  stories. 

6.  On  the  southwest  corner  of  Monroe  and  Dear- 
born Streets  stood  one  of  the  Honore  Buildings,  later 
known  as  the  Rowland  Block,  with  a  frontage  of  50 
feet  on  Monroe  Street  and  190  feet  on  Dearborn  Street. 

This  building  was  erected  upon  the  same  site  where 
it  had  stood  before  the  Fire.  It  was  five  stories  high, 
with  basement,  and  was  built  of  Cleveland  stone. 

In  the  Seventies  it  was  almost  exclusively  occupied 
by  real  estate  men,  the  first  floor  being  tenanted  by 
Gallop  &  Peabody,  mortgage  bankers,  who  dealt  in 
city  and  farm  loans. 

This  building  was  the  birthplace  of  the  Central 
Trust  Company  of  Illinois,  which  opened  its  doors 
there  July  8,  1902. 


52 


THE  ROWLAND  BLOCK 
Southwest  Corner  Monroe  and  Dearborn  Street 

This  picture  was  taken  just  before  the  building  was  wrecked  to  make  room  for  the 
Westminster  Building  which  now  occupies  this  corner 


From    a   photograph,    through 
the  courtesy  of  Mr.  C.  R.  Clark 


53 


A  bold 
Move 


Part  of 
Farwell 

Building 
Still 

Standing 


Majestic 

Theater 

Site 


7.  The  John  V.  Farwell  Company  moved  to  Monroe 
Street,  west,  just  after  the  Fire  from  the  corner  of 
Wabash  Avenue  and  Washington  Street.     They  built 
and  occupied  a  large  five-story  building  with  frontage 
on  Monroe  Street,  west  of  Franklin  Street. 

This  move  so  far  west  caused  great  excitement  at 
the  time  in  the  real  estate  and  mercantile  world,  and 
caused  a  sudden  rise  in  the  value  of  land  in  that 
section. 

The  five-story  business  block  still  standing  on  the 
northeast  corner  of  Market  and  Monroe  Streets  is  part 
of  the  block  built  and  occupied  by  the  John  V.  Farwell 
Company  in  the  early  Seventies. 

The  original  building  erected  by  them  immediately 
after  the  Fire  occupied  40  feet  in  about  the  center  of  the 
block;  but  they  soon  built  on  both  sides,  until  they 
built  up  and  occupied  the  entire  block  on  the  north 
side  of  Monroe  Street,  from  Franklin  to  Market 
Streets. 

8.  The  Cleaveland  Building,  on  the  southeast  corner 
of  Market  and  Monroe  Streets,  built  by  James  O. 
Cleaveland  in  the  summer  of  1872.     The  building  was 
five  stories  high  and  was  occupied  by  Cleaveland  & 
Johnson,  hats,  caps  and  furs. 

9.  The  Royal  Palm,  71  Monroe  Street  (between 
State  and  Dearborn),  built  in  the  latter  part  of  1872. 
This  building  was  four  stories  high  and  was  occupied, 
on  the  ground  floor,  by  a  sample  room,  and  upstairs 
by  a  billiard  room.     It  was  owned  by  John  Garrick 
and  S.  L.  Gather. 

An  enthusiastic  writer  in  The  Land  Owner  of 
January,  1873,  describing  the  Royal  Palm,  says  of  it: 
"Paris  in  the  palmy  and  gorgeous  days  of  the  empire 
never  boasted  of  such  apartments." 


54 


-  A  picture  of  the  present  Palmer  House  in  the 
urse  of  erection  is  shown  in  The  Land  Owner  of 
May,  1873.  The  picture  represents  work  going  on  at 
night  by  the  aid  of  powerful  calcium  lights.  The 
building  was  then  up  six  stories  and  ready  for  the  roof. 

The  writer,  in  describing  the  work  of  construction, 
says,  among  other  things:  "Mr.  Palmer  appeared  every- 
where with  his  large  lantern  and  cheered  the  men." 

Prior  to  the  Great  Fire  the  Palmer  House  stood  on 
the  northwest  corner  of  State  and  Quincy  Streets 
(present  site  Consumers  Building),  where  it  was  erected 
in  1869-70. 

The  hotel  on  the  southeast  corner  of  State  and 
Monroe  Streets  had  been  begun  by  Mr.  Palmer  before 
the  Fire.  The  excavation  had  been  made  and  the 
foundation  was  in  at  the  time  of  the  Great  Fire  in  Octo- 
ber, 1871. 

11.  The  Clifton  House  building,  on  the  northwest 
corner  of  Wabash  Avenue  and  Monroe  Street,  built  in 
1872  (still  standing).  This  building  was  occupied  at 
first  by  the  Clifton  Hotel,  the  name  being  afterwards 
changed  to  the  Windsor-Clifton.  The  hotel  occupies 
all  five  of  the  floors  above  the  first,  which  is  given  up 
to  stores. 

CJT12-  The  Williams  Building,  southeast  corner  of 
^Monroe  and  Wabash.  This  building  was  erected 
about  1876  on  the  site  of  the  old  Williams  homestead, 
which  later  became  the  Maison  Doree,  ladies'  restau- 
rant. (See  page  27.) 

The  first  floor  was  specially  arranged  for  the 
Gossage  Dry  Goods  House,  with  a  large  entrance  on 
Monroe  Street,  but,  by  the  time  the  building  was  com- 
pleted, Mr.  Gossage  for  some  reason  refused  to  occupy 
the  place. 


Palmer 
House 


First 

Palmer 

House 


Old 

Maison 
Doree  Site 


55 


Edson 

Keith  & 

Company 


Chicago 
Club 


De  Jonghe's 
Hotel 


Canal 
Lots 


The  building  has  a  frontage  of  160  feet  on  Wabash 
Avenue,  and  120  feet  of  this  frontage  was  occupied  in 
1879  by  O.  R.  Keith  &  Company,  later  succeeded  by 
Edson,  Keith  &  Company,  the  wholesale  millinery 
house  now  located  on  Michigan  Avenue.  A  year  or 
two  later  Edson,  Keith  &  Company  took  the  remaining 
40  feet,  paying  an  annual  rental  of  $20,000  for  the  entire 
building. 

Edson,  Keith  &  Company  remained  in  this  building 
until  January  1,  1900. 

CJT13.  The  Chicago  Club  moved  into  its  new  club 
Chouse  at  43-5  Monroe  Street  in  August,  1876.  In 
1879  a  memorable  banquet  was  given  to  Gen.  U.  S. 
Grant  in  this  club  house. 

In  1893  the  club  moved  into  the  old  Art  Institute 
Building,  southwest  corner  of  Michigan  Avenue  and 
Van  Buren  Street,  where  they  have  been  located  ever 
since. 

The  Monroe  Street  building  is  still  standing  and  is 
now  occupied  by  De  Jonghe's  Hotel. 

The  lot  on  the  northeast  corner  of  State  and  Monroe 
Streets,  upon  the  rear  of  which  this  building  stands, 
was  sold  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Canal  in  1848  for  $3,190.  It  had  a  frontage 
of  76  feet  on  State  Street  and  170  feet  on  Monroe  Street. 

In  1827  the  U.  S.  Government  granted  284,000 
acres  of  land  to  the  State  of  Illinois,  to  enable  it  to 
build  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal.  The  land  lay 
along  both  sides  of  the  proposed  canal,  from  Chicago  to 
Ottawa. 

Canal  commissioners  were  appointed,  who  sur- 
veyed and  laid  out  the  original  Town  of  Chicago  and 
proceeded  to  sell  off  the  granted  land,  including  that 
located  in  and  about  Chicago,  known  as  Canal  Lots. 


56 


.  Shortly  after  the  Fire,  Edwin  Walker,  a  stone 
contractor,  erected  a  four-story,  brick  building  (still 
standing)  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Monroe  and  Clark 
Streets.  The  lower  floor  of  the  building  was  occupied 
by  a  pawnbroker  shop  and  saloon,  and  the  upper  floors 
were  used  for  lodging  purposes. 

During  the  Eighties  all  of  the  ground  floor,  except 
the  corner  (a  shoe  store),  was  occupied  as  a  saloon  by 
Mike  McDonald,  the  well-known  politician  and 
gambler,  and  the  second  floor  was  used  for  gambling 
purposes.  Mike  McDonald's  place  was  known,  in 
those  days,  as  The  Store. 

During  the  later  Eighties  rooms  on  the  upper 
floors  of  this  building  were  used  for  lodging  purposes, 
and  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  Nineties  were  known 
as  the  Hotel  Ross,  being  conducted  by  a  Mrs.  Ross, 
who  was  probably  either  the  same  Madam  Ross  who 
is  referred  to  at  that  location  before  the  Fire  as  an 
astrologist  (see  page  40),  or  some  one  of  her  kin. 

In  1901  this  building  was  sold  to  the  Hamilton 
Club,  and  at  that  time  there  was  a  saloon  not  only  on 
the  ground  floor,  but  also  in  the  basement,  which  was 
indicative  of  general  conditions  in  that  block  on  Clark 
Street  at  that  period. 

The  club  added  two  stories  to  the  building  and 
moved  into  it  on  April  1,  1902.  They  used  the  five 
upper  floors  and  the  basement,  subletting  the  ground 
floor  for  stores.  On  May  1,  1912,  the  Hamilton  Club 
moved  into  its  new  clubhouse  on  Dearborn  Street. 

This  building  is  now  named  after  the  Chicago 
Transportation  Association,  which  occupies  the  third 
and  fourth  floors. 

15.  Crilly  Building,  northeast  corner  of  Dearborn 
and  Monroe  Streets  (still  standing). 


Mike 

McDonald's 

Place 


Hotel 
Ross 


Home 
of  the 
Hamilton 
Club 


57 


From  an  old  wood  cut 


THE  MONTAUK  BUILDING 

58 


Home  of 
Chicago 
Stock 
Exchange 


In  1878  Mr.  D.  F.  Crilly,  the  well-known  building     Crilly 
contractor,  took  a  lease  from  the  Board  of  Education     Building 
for  this  corner,  which  had  remained  vacant  since  the 
Chicago  Fire,  in  1871. 

Mr.  Crilly  put  up  a  five-story  building  for  the 
J.  M.  W.  Jones  Printing  Company.  It  was  of  sub- 
stantial construction  on  account  of  the  heavy  printing 
presses.  The  north  part  of  the  building  was  occupied 
by  the  Indianapolis  Paper  Company. 

In  1888  the  building  was  remodeled  and  two  more 
stories  added. 

In  May,  1890,  the  Chicago  Stock  Exchange,  deem- 
ing new  and  more  convenient  quarters  necessary, 
moved  from  the  Chicago  Opera  House  Block,  where  it 
had  been  located  since  1885,  to  this  building,  re- 
named, in  its  honor,  the  Stock  Exchange  Building. 
Here  a  hall  40  by  60  feet  was  dedicated  to  its  use, 
located  on  the  main  floor  on  the  east  side  of  the  build- 
ing. 

The  north  and  west  front  of  the  ground  floor  was 
rented  to  N.  W.  Harris  &  Company.  The  corner 
was  occupied  by  Edward  L.  Brewster,  Private  Banker; 
and  next  to  him  on  Dearborn  Street  was  the  office  of 
Charles  Henrotin.  The  upstairs  was  divided  into 
offices  for  general  purposes. 

On  April  30,  1894,  the  Exchange  moved  out  of  this 
building  to  the  new  Stock  Exchange  Building,  on 
LaSalle  and  Washington  Streets,  and  in  April,  1908, 
moved  to  its  present  quarters  in  the  Rookery  Building. 

5.  The  first  tall  building  or  so-called  skyscraper     Montauk 
_i  the  United  States,  as  far  as  can  be  learned,  was  the     Building 
Montauk  Building,  on  the  north  side  of  Monroe  Street, 
just  west  of  the  corner  of  Dearborn  Street.     The  build- 
ing was  ten  stories  high,  and  was  finished  in  1882. 


59 


RAND,  McNALLY  BUILDING 

This  building  occupied  the  site  of  the  Central  Trust  Company  of  Illinois 
before  the  present  bank  building  was  erected 


From  an  old  wood  cut 


60 


From  an  interesting  letter  by  Mr.  William 
Holabird  on  the  history  of  this  building,  we  learn  that 
the  erection  of  so  tall  a  building  at  that  time  created 
great  excitement. 

Mr.  Holabird  goes  on  to  say:  "Most  people  de- 
clared that  they  never  would  go  up  in  such  a  high 
building  and  we  [Holabird  &  Roche]  secured  offices 
under  very  favorable  terms. 

"Burnham  &  Root  were  the  architects  of  the  build- 
ing, and  Mortimer  &  Tapper  the  mason  contractors. 

"The  foundations  were  made  of  coursed  rubble 
stone  or  dimension  stone,  and  alternate  layers  of  rails 
or  beams  —  I  have  forgotten  which,  but  I  rather  think 
rails.  The  walls  were  solid  masonry  with  iron  col- 
umns, girders  and  floor  beams;  the  columns  and  girders 
covered  with  tile,  and  the  floor  arches  of  tile.  This 
was  one  of  the  first  buildings  where  tile  was  used.  .  .  . 

"I  remember  there  was  such  fear  of  the  strength 
of  the  wall  that  the  flues,  each  office  having  a  fireplace, 
were  contracted  so  that  they  never  drew  very  well. 

"It  was  certainly  the  highest  building  in  Chicago 
used  for  office  purposes,  and  I  think  the  highest  build- 
ing anywhere  in  the  U.  S.  It  was  removed,  as  the  site 
was  used  for  part  of  the  present  First  National  Bank 
Building." 


lot  upon  which  the  Central  Trust  Company 
Illinois'  building  now  stands  was  cleared  by  the 
Great  Fire  of  1871,  and  remained  vacant  until  1880, 
when  the  building  shown  on  the  opposite  page  was 
erected  upon  it  and  was  occupied  by  Rand  &  McNally. 

It  was  a  five-story  building  in  front  and  six  stories 
in  the  rear,  with  a  light  court  about  40  feet  wide 
separating  the  two  buildings. 


Tenants 

Timid 

About 

High 

Building 


Present 

Site 

Central 

Trust 

Company 

of  Illinois 


61 


Early 

History 

of  Art 

in  Chicago 


Troublous 
Times 


Beginning 

of  Art 

Institute 


In  1891  Rand  &  McNally  vacated  this  building,  and 
it  was  then  occupied  on  the  ground  floor  as  a  restaurant, 
while  the  upper  floors  were  taken  by  printers. 

1875  the  Academy  of  Design,  which  was  organ- 
about  1867,  moved  from  the  Volk  Building,  on 
the  southwest  corner  of  Michigan  Avenue  and  Van 
Buren  Street,  into  the  fifth  floor  of  the  Pike  Building, 
on  the  southwest  corner  of  State  and  Monroe 
Streets. 

For  about  a  year  and  a  half  the  affairs  of  the 
Academy  went  along  smoothly,  but  it  appears  that, 
owing  to  dull  business  and  other  reasons,  the  number 
of  pupils  fell  off  and  the  Academy  got  into  financial 
difficulties. 

A  board  of  twenty-five  managing  trustees  was  then 
chosen  among  prominent  business  men  to  manage 
the  affairs  of  the  Academy,  but  dissension  crept  in 
again  after  about  a  year,  and  the  trustees  withdrew. 

The  creditors  thereupon  foreclosed  their  claims, 
and  the  effects  of  the  Academy  were  sold  at  sheriff's 
sale. 

The  pictures  and  other  effects  of  the  Academy 
which  had  been  purchased  at  sheriff's  sale  became  the 
nucleus  of  the  present  Art  Institute,  which  was  incor- 
porated May  24,  1879,  as  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts, 
and  continued  to  occupy  the  quarters  in  the  Pike 
Building.  Its  name  was  changed  December  21,  1882, 
to  the  Art  Institute  of  Chicago. 

Under  the  capable  management  of  W.  M.  R. 
French,  who  is  still  Director  of  the  Art  Institute,  and 
of  N.  H.  Carpenter,  who  was  then,  and  is  still,  its 
Secretary,  the  Institute  began  at  once  to  prosper.  Mr. 
French  had  also  been  Secretary  of  the  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts  for  one  year. 


62 


In  1882  the  Art  Institute  purchased  the  lot  on  the 
southwest  corner  of  Michigan  Avenue  and  Van  Buren 
Street,  where  they  later  erected  a  building  for  their 
purposes,  now  occupied  by  the  Chicago  Club. 

The  Academy  of  Design  was  considerably  dis- 
couraged but  not  entirely  disheartened  by  the  sheriff's 
sale  of  its  effects  and  started  up  again,  in  a  small  way, 
on  the  third  floor  of  the  American  Express  Company's 
building  on  Monroe  Street;  but  the  school  was  finally 
discontinued  in  1884. 

All  of  the  surviving  members  of  the  old  Academy 
of  Design  have  been  made  life  members  of  the  Art 
Institute. 

CjTAfter  the  Fire  the  old  Post  Office  Building  on  the 
^northwest  corner  of  Dearborn  and  Monroe  Streets, 
the  walls  of  which  were  still  intact,  was  fitted  up  as  a 
theater  by  John  H.  Haverly  and  called  the  New 
Adelphi.  It  was  opened  January  11,  1875,  and  was 
the  largest  theater,  till  then,  erected  in  Chicago. 

The  walls  of  the  building  showed  the  ravages  of  the 
Great  Fire  and  were  one  of  the  interesting  sights  to  the 
tourist  stopping  in  Chicago  in  those  days. 

The  appointments  of  the  theater  were  rather 
shabby,  but  in  the  summer  of  1878  Haverly  entirely 
reconstructed  and  redecorated  the  theater,  among 
other  things  removing  the  traces  of  the  fire  from  the 
outside  walls. 

It  was  in  this  rehabilitated  theater  that  Colonel 
Mapleson  gave  his  first  seasons  of  Italian  opera  in 
Chicago,  in  1879-80-81. 

In  1882  Haverly's  lease  expired,  and  the  property 
was  leased  to  the  First  National  Bank,  whose  building 
now  occupies  that  corner. 


First  Art 
Institute 
Building 


Col 

Mapleson 

and 

Grand 

Opera 


63 


HAVERLY'S  THEATER  IN  1882 

Site  of  the  Inter-Ocean  Building 

64 


By  courtesy  of  the 
Chicago  Historical  Society 


r.  Haverly  built  a  new  theater  in  1882  almost  Haverly's 
across  the  street  from  his  old  location,  where  the    Theater 
Inter-Ocean  Building  now  stands.     This  theater  was 
opened   by   Robson    and    Crane    in   Shakespeare's 
"Twelfth  Night." 

In  1885  the  name  of  the  theater  was  changed  to 
the  Columbia  Theater,  this  name  having  been  sug- 
gested by  Miss  Ellen  Terry,  who  was  playing  in  the 
house  at  the  time  with  Henry  Irving. 

The  theater  itself  was  burned  down  in  1900. 


Colonel  Haverly  appears  to  have  been  an  ambitious, 
untiring  genius,  whose  extensive  theatrical  ventures 
in  some  of  the  largest  cities  in  the  country  did  not  seem 
to  suffice  to  absorb  all  his  energies.  He  provided  the 
City  of  Chicago  with  high-grade  entertainment,  and 
deserves  great  credit  for  the  risks  he  was  willing  to 
take  in  order  to  provide  the  best. 

He  was  a  liberal  contributor  to  the  leading  charities 
of  the  city  and  was  personally  very  popular.  He 
naturally  became  over-extended  and  suffered  heavy 
financial  reverses,  losing  most  of  his  theaters,  after 
which  he  established  Haverly's  Mastodon  Minstrels. 

"Jack"  Haverly,  being  by  nature  a  good  deal  of  a 
plunger,  quite  naturally  took  to  the  racetrack  and  to 
mines.  Cook,  in  his  Bygone  Days  in  Chicago,  says  of 
him:  "For  a  long  time  'Jack'  literally  stormed  the 
betting  ring.  He  headed  every  auction  pool  (book- 
making  at  this  time  was  unknown  in  Chicago),  usually 
with  a  cool  thousand." 

And  further  on,  speaking  of  his  promotions,  Cook 
says:  "The  gold  mines  that  he  did  not  own  in  Colo- 
rado and  Utah  about  this  time  were  scarcely  worth 
mentioning." 


"Jack" 
Haverly 


Race-track 
and  Gold 
Mines 


65 


MONROE   STREET    IN   THE   80's. 


View  looking  west  from  Clark 
Street.  From  an  old  engraving 


66 


{TOn  Monday  evening,  November  27,  1876,  the 
<--^  Apollo  Club,  which  had  been  established  in  1872, 
threw  open  for  public  inspection  its  new  quarters  in 
the  American  Express  Company  Building,  on  Monroe 
Street. 

The  club  remained  in  these  quarters  until  Central 
Music  Hall  (southeast  corner  of  State  and  Randolph 
Streets)  was  opened  in  1879. 

In  the  Eighties  Monroe  Street  was  the  center  of  the 
paper,  printing  and  kindred  trades.  While  the  print- 
ing trade  has  drifted  south  and  likewise  many  of  the 
paper  houses,  every  paper  house  handling  fine  writing 
papers  had  its  business  home  upon  Monroe  Street  in 
those  days. 

Most  of  the  typefounders,  either  past  or  present, 
of  any  importance,  have  been  located  at  one  time  or 
another  on  Monroe  Street,  between  Clark  and  Franklin 
Streets;  among  them:  The  American  Type  Founders 
Company,  Barnhart  Bros.  &  Spindler,  and  the  old 
houses  of  S.  P.  Rounds  and  Marder  Luse  &  Com- 
pany. 


Among  the  printers  whose  offices  were  upon  Monroe 
Street,  the  following  were  located  upon  the  present 
site  of  the  Central  Trust  Company  of  Illinois,  125 
West  Monroe  Street  (then  occupied  by  the  Rand- 
McNally  Building): 

Rand,  McNally  &  Co.  Goes  Lithographing  Co. 

Hollister  Bros.  Harmegnies  &  Howell. 

Pettibone,  Wells  &  Co.,  later  P.  F.  Pettibone  &  Co. 

Located  next  door  east  in  the  six-story  Taylor 
Building  (the  present  site  of  the  Harris  Trust  &  Savings 
Bank),  were,  among  others,  the  following  well-known 
printing  houses: 


Head- 
quarters 
for  Printing 
and  Paper 
Business 


Harris  Trust 

Building 

Site 


67 


STURGES  LOT  WAITING  FOR  A  BUYER 


68 


R.  R.  Donnelley  &  Sons.  Geo.  E.  Marshall  &  Co., 

S.  D.  Childs  &  Co.  later  Marshall- Jack- 

Juergens  Bros.  son  Co. 

Other  prominent  printers,  located  at  that  time  on 
Monroe  Street,  between  Clark  and  Franklin  Streets, 
were: 


Inland  Printer  Publishing 

Co. 

H.  S.  Tiffany  &  Co. 
Donohue  &  Henneberry. 
Barrett's  Bindery. 
J.  J.  Hanlon  Co. 
Shattock  &  McKay. 
Hale-Crossley  Co. 
Herschman  &  Cardy. 
J.  B.  Ruling. 


Law  Bulletin  Publishing 
Co. 

Blomgren  Bros.  &  Co. 

Chicago  Legal  News  Co. 

Jefferson  Theater  Pro- 
gram Co. 

Pereira  Bros. 

Rayner  &  Dalheim  Co. 

Schulkins  &  Co. 

H.  O.  Shepard  Co. 


Among  the  large  paper  houses  located  on  Monroe 
reet  was  the  J.  W.  Butler  Paper  Company,  whose 
business  was  started  in  1841  at  St.  Charles,  111. 

The  company  opened  its  Chicago  house  in  1844, 
and  moved  on  Monroe  Street  in  1869.  They  have 
occupied  their  present  building  at  221  West  Monroe 
Street  since  1875. 

The  90-foot  lot  upon  which  stands  their  present 
building  was  sold  on  July  2,  1836,  by  the  State  of 
Illinois  to  Clements  Stose  for  $82,  and  was  sold  on 
March  17,  1868,  by  Clements  Stose  to  Brown  Bros,  for 
$25,000. 

Another  old  established  paper  house  is  Bradner 
Smith  &  Company,  which  has  been  in  business  in 
Chicago  since  1852.  They  moved  on  Monroe  Street 
soon  after  the  Fire,  and  are  now  located  at  175  West 
Monroe  Street. 


Other 
Printers 


Well-known 

Paper 

Houses 


Early 

Real  Estate 
Values 


69 


Historic 
Site 


Iroquois 
Club 


Land  that 

Kept  on 

Going  Up 


This  old  paper  house  occupies  the  west  half  of  the 
historic  site  upon  which  stood  North's  Circus,  that 
furnished  entertainment  to  so  many  of  Chicago's 
citizens  in  the  Fifties. 


Iroquois  Club,  now  located  at  21  North  LaSalle 
Street,  was  born  on  Monroe  Street.  It  started  origi- 
nally as  the  Chicago  Democratic  Club  in  the  Reading 
Room  of  the  Palmer  House  in  1880,  and  held  its  busi- 
ness meetings  there  for  several  months. 

In  October,  1881,  the  name  of  the  club  was  changed 
to  the  Iroquois  Club;  and  in  December  of  that  year 
they  took  permanent  quarters  on  the  third  floor  of 
Haverly's  Theater,  on  Monroe  Street. 

In  1886  the  growing  membership  made  it  necessary 
for  them  to  occupy  all  space  in  that  building  above  the 
ground  floor,  the  name  of  the  theater  having  been 
changed  at  that  time  to  Columbia  Theater. 

interesting  sidelight  on  the  fortunes  in  real 
on  Monroe  Street  in  the  early  days  is  con- 
tained in  the  history  of  the  90-foot  lot  next  east  to 
that  now  occupied  by  the  Central  Trust  Company  of 
Illinois. 

As  stated  on  page  44,  this  lot  was  occupied  before 
the  Fire  by  Frank  Sturges  &  Company,  metals  and 
tinners'  stock.  After  the  destruction  of  this  property 
in  the  Great  Fire  in  1871,  George  Sturges,  who  was  later 
President  of  the  Northwestern  National  Bank,  had  to 
take  the  lot  from  his  brother  Frank,  to  whom  he  had 
previously  made  some  advances. 

Mr.  George  Sturges  was  not  partial  to  real  estate 
as  an  investment,  preferring  to  have  his  investments  in 
more  liquid  form;  and  he  therefore  allowed  the  lot  to 
remain  vacant,  covered  for  a  long  time  with  the  debris 
of  the  fire. 


70 


BATTERY   D  ARMORY  ON  THE  LAKE  FRONT 

(See  description  on  pages  72  and  74) 


From  a  photograph,  through  the 
courtesy  of  Mr.   C.   R.   Clark 


71 


Waiting 

for  Some 

Fool 


Second 
Thoughts 


Battery  D 
Armory 


Art 

Institute 

Used 

Battery  D 


When  asked  by  his  friends  what  he  intended  to  do 
with  the  lot,  he  replied:  "Oh,  I  am  waiting  until  some 
fool  comes  along  who  wants  it  more  than  I  do." 

However,  when  a  prospective  purchaser  did  come 
along  and  inquired  whether  he  could  buy  the  lot  for 
$50,000,  Mr.  Sturges  said:  "Oh,  no.  If  you  had  said 
$75,000  I  might  think  it  over." 

It  appears  that  the  purchaser  likewise  wanted  to 
think  it  over,  and,  after  about  six  months,  came  back, 
saying  that  while  he  considered  it  a  heavy  price,  he 
thought  he  might  be  able  to  use  it  for  $75,000.  Mr. 
Sturges  then  told  him  that  he  had  changed  his  mind  in 
the  last  six  months  and  the  price  was  now  $100,000. 

That  sale  did  not  go  through.  However,  Mr. 
Sturges  did  sell  the  property,  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
Seventies,  to  Mr.  John  Borden  for  $100,000. 

Mr.  Borden  held  the  property  until  August,  1909, 
when  he  sold  it  for  approximately  a  million  dollars ! 

Battery  D  Armory  was  erected  on  the  Lake  Front 
1880,  and  fronted  on  the  north  line  of  Monroe 
Street. 

This  battery  was  started  by  some  Civil  War 
veterans  as  an  independent  organization  as  a  result  of 
the  great  riots  of  1877,  but  was  later  incorporated  into 
the  Illinois  National  Guard,  although  the  building  was 
never  taken  over  by  the  state.  At  that  time  its 
armament  consisted  of  four  12-pound  Napoleons,  two 
6-pounders  and  a  gatling  gun. 

Aside  from  its  military  uses,  the  building  was 
frequently  used  for  public  meetings  and  entertainments. 

The  Art  Institute  classes  were  held  in  Battery  D 
for  a  while,  in  1882-3,  pending  the  completion  of  the 
Art  Institute  Building,  southwest  corner  of  Michigan 
Avenue  and  Van  Buren  Street. 


72 


TEMPORARY  POST  OFFICE  ON  THE  LAKE  FRONT 
On  the  former  site  of  Battery  D 


From  a  photograph,  through 
courtesy  of  Mr.  C.  R.  Clark 


73 


Art 

Versus 
Boxing 


Temporary 
Post  Office 


Chicago 

Literary 

Club 


Many  other 
Landmarks 


It  appears  that  it  occasionally  required  some 
pretty  quick  work  to  put  the  building  into  suitable 
condition  for  the  morning  art  classes,  after  it  had  been 
used  the  night  before  for  a  boxing  match  or  a  ball.  The 
building  was  finally  torn  down  in  1896,  to  make  room 
for  the  temporary  brick  Post  Office  Building  erected 
on  that  site  and  used  as  a  Post  Office  from  1896  to  1905. 


Chicago  Literary  Club  was  organized  in  1881 
1882,  and  held  its  first  meetings  in  a  room  on  one 
of  the  upper  floors  of  the  American  Express  Company 
Building,  No.  76-8  Monroe  Street. 

The  Chicago  Literary  Club  is  still  in  existence,  and 
holds  its  meetings  in  the  rooms  of  the  Caxton  Club,  in 
the  Fine  Arts  Building.  Mr.  W.  M.  R.  French, 
Director  of  the  Art  Institute,  was  elected  the  fortieth 
President  of  the  club  in  1912,  and  is  also  a  charter 
member.  The  President  of  the  club  at  this  time  is  Mr. 
Walter  L.  Fisher,  formerly  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

There  are  a  number  of  old  buildings  on  Monroe 
Street,  not  mentioned  in  this  sketch,  dating  back  to 
the  Seventies  and  early  Eighties,  whose  history  it  would 
be  interesting  to  follow;  but  the  limits  set  for  this  little 
publication  have  already  been  considerably  exceeded, 
and  it  must  be  left  to  some  future  compiler  to  complete 
the  work  that  has  been  begun  in  these  scattered  notes. 
These  old  five-story  buildings  of  the  Seventies,  to 
many  of  which  two  stories  were  added  in  later  years, 
look  somewhat  weather-worn  and  dingy  now,  but 
there  was  a  time  when  they  looked  as  bright  and 
attractive,  and  inspired  the  same  wonder  and  admira- 
tion, as  do  the  bright  new  skyscrapers  beside  them 
today.  The  wrecker  is  patiently  waiting  for  these 
landmarks  of  Chicago's  early  progress,  and,  after  the 
present  leases  expire,  they  will  soon  be  only  a  memory. 


74 


From  a  photograph,  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  C.  R.  Clark 

above  picture  shows  the  southeast  corner  of 
Monroe  and  LaSalle  Streets  before  the  erection  of 
the  new  Borland  Block,  which  occupies  the  corner  at 
the  present  time.  The  picture  also  shows  the  nine-story 
Calumet  Block,  on  the  corner  of  the  alley  at  LaSalle 
Street,  which  is  being  torn  down  to  be  replaced  by  an 
addition  to  the  Borland  Block,  making  the  building 
uniform  from  Monroe  Street  to  the  alley. 

The  ground  floor  of  this  new  addition  to  the  Borland 
Block  will  be  occupied  by  the  Central  Trust  Company 
of  Illinois,  and  will  be  connected  with  their  present 
main  banking  office  fronting  on  Monroe  Street,  so  that 
there  will  be  an  entrance  to  the  bank  both  from  LaSalle 
and  Monroe  Streets. 

75 


Monroe 
and  LaSalle 
Streets 


Central  Trust 

Company 

Addition 


CENTRAL  TRUST  COMPANY  OF  I  1IN01S 


CENTRAL  TRUST  COMPANY  OF  ILLINOIS,  CHICAGO 


Capital        ....        $4,500,000.00 
Surplus  and  Undivided  Profits     2,100,000.00 


76 


CENTRAL   TRUST    COMPANY 
OF     ILLINOIS        —        —        CHICAGO 


OFFICERS 


CHARLES  G.  DAWES 
JOSEPH  E.  OTIS 
EDWIN  F.  MACK 
WILLIAM  T.  ABBOTT 
WALTER  H.  WILSON 
WILLIAM  R.  DAWES  Vice 
J.  E.  LINDQUIST 
WILLIAM  C.  COOK 
T.  C.  NEAL 
FRED  B.  WOODLAND 


President 
Vice-President 
Vice-President 
Vice-President 
Vice-President 
•Pres.  &  Cashier 
Vice-President 
Vice-President 
Vice-President 
Vice-President 


L.  D.  SKINNER 
WM.  W.  GATES 
JNO.  W.  THOMAS 
HARRY  R.  MOORE 
ADDISON  CORNEAU 
HOWARD  S.  CAMP 
ALBERT  G.  MANG 
WILLIAM  G.  EDENS 
JOHN  L.  LEHNHARD 
LLOYD  R.  STEERE 


Assistant  Cashier 
Assistant  Cashier 
Assistant  Cashier 
Assistant  Cashier 
Assistant  Cashier 
Assistant  Cashier 
Secretary 

Assistant  Secretary 

Asst.  Trust  Officer 

Probate  Officer 


DIRECTORS 


A.  J.  EARLING 

President  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  R'y 
Company 

ARTHUR  DIXON 

President  Arthur  Dixon  Transfer  Company 

CHARLES  T.  BOYNTON 

Pickands,  Brown  &  Company 

ALEXANDER  H.  REVELL 

President  Alexander  H.  Revell  &  Company 

S.  M.  FELTON 

President  Chicago  Great  Western  Railroad 
Company 

T.  W.  ROBINSON 

Vice-President  Illinois  Steel  Company 

CHANDLER  B.  BEACH 

C.  B.  Beach  &  Company 

GEORGE  F.  STEELE 

President  Brunei  Falls  Manufacturing 
Company 

MAX  PAM 

Pam  &  Hurd 

Z.  G.  SIMMONS 

President  Simmons  Manufacturing  Company 
Kenosha 

H.  A.  LANGHORST 

President  Albert  Schwill  &  Company 

A.  UHRLAUB 

Vice-President  Colonial  Land  Company 


WILLIAM  T.  ABBOTT 

Vice-President  Central  Trust  Company  of 
Illinois 

HOWARD  G.  HETZLER 

President  Chicago  &  Western  Indiana  Railroad 

WALTER  H.  WILSON 

Vice-President  Central  Trust  Company  of 
Illinois 

JOSEPH  E.  OTIS 

Vice-President  Central  Trust  Co.  of  Illinois 

GEORGE  WOODLAND 

Chairman  Advisory  Committee  Central  Trust 
Co.  of  Illinois 

BURTON  F.  PEEK 

Vice-President  Deere  &  Company,  Moline 

JAMES  W.  STEVENS 

President  Illinois  Life  Insurance  Company 

W.  O.  JOHNSON 

General  Counsel  and  Director  Chicago  & 
Erie  R.  R. 

R.  FLOYD  CLINCH 

Crerar,  Clinch  &  Company 

WILLIAM  C.  BOYDEN 

Matz,  Fisher  &  Boyden,  Attorneys 

C.  B.   SCOVILLE 

Real  Estate,  Oak  Park  and  Chicago 

CHARLES  G.  DAWES 

Ex-Comptroller  of  Currency 


77 


CENTRAL  TRUST  COMPANY  OF  ILLINOIS 
Left  side  of  Main  Banking  Room  (at  level  of  sidewalk) 


78 


CENTRAL  TRUST  COMPANY  OF  ILLINOIS 
Right  side  of  Main  Banking  Room 


• 


79 


Interior 

Central 

Trust 

Company 


^TTUpon  entering  the  banking  room  of  the  Central 
*-^ Trust  Company  of  Illinois  the  visitor  is  at  once 
impressed  by  the  beautiful,  commodious  interior  and 
the  absence  of  all  columns  or  other  supports.  Thus 
an  unobstructed  view  is  gained  at  one  glance. 

The  white  walls  of  delicately  patterned  marble, 
from  famous  Italian  quarries,  rise  to  a  height  of  some 
fifty  feet.  On  these  are  shown,  at  regular  intervals 
sixteen  large  mural  paintings  by  Lawrence  C.  Earle, 
depicting  progressive  periods  in  Chicago's  history — 
from  the  rough  winter  quarters  of  Father  Marquette, 
1674,  to  the  magnificent  Court  of  Honor,  World's  Fair, 
1893. 

Surmounting  all  this  is  the  beautiful  stained  glass 
ceiling  through  which  the  light  is  diffused,  giving  a  soft, 
quiet  tone  to  the  bank's  interior. 

The  main  banking  floor  is  practically  at  the  level 
of  the  sidewalk,  making  it  unnecessary  for  the  patrons 


80 


of  the  bank  to  climb  any  steps  or  stairways,  either  upon 
entering  or  leaving  the  bank. 

In  the  rear  of  the  main  banking  floor  is  located  a 
massive  white  marble  structure  containing  ten  heavy 
steel  vaults,  in  which  the  cash  and  books  of  the  bank 
are  kept.  This  structure  rises  upon  its  own  heavy 
foundations,  and  looks  as  impregnable  as  it  does 
artistic. 

The  General  Banking  Department,  Savings  De- 
partment and  Bond  Department  are  all  located  on  the 
main  floor.  An  elevator  takes  the  customers  to  the 
Trust  Department,  on  the  second  floor,  and  to  the 
Real  Estate  Loan  Department,  on  the  third  floor.  As 
there  are  no  other  tenants  in  the  building,  the  elevator 
service  is  restricted  entirely  to  the  patrons  of  the  bank. 

Underneath  the  main  banking  quarters  are  located 
the  Safe  Deposit  Vaults,  reached  by  a  broad  marble 
stairway  from  the  main  banking  room  and  also  by  an 
elevator  from  the  entrance  hall. 

Such  a  building  seems  to  be  a  fitting  climax  in  the 
growth  of  Old  Monroe  Street — a  street  which  has 
acquired  a  leading  place  in  the  history  of  banking 
in  Chicago. 


Massive 
Vaults 


Various 
Departments 


81 


Banking  on  Human  Interests 
and  Principles 

The  Central  Trust  Company  or  Illinois  believes  that  real  bank- 
ing service  is  more  than  a  matter  of  mere  cash  principal  and  interest  — 

That  true  service  is  based  on  human  interests  and  principles. 

Let  us  apply  it. 

A  wise  father  starts  a  savings  account  here  for  his  son  — 

To  the  boy  this  at  first  represents  only  so  much  money  saved. 

As  time  goes  on  he  learns  that  this  bank  means  more  to  him 
than  a  place  to  put  his  savings. 

He  gets  the  banking  habit,  comes  in  contact  with  bank  officials 
who  take  an  interest  in  him,  forms  a  bank  relationship  —  far  more 
than  a  mere  acquaintanceship. 

He  becomes  Known  at  the  bank. 

Schooldays  pass.  Business  or  professional  opportunities  come. 
He  seeks  this  bank  s  advice.  It  is  cheerfully  given  and  well  given. 

He  learns  that  character,  individuality,  personality,  or  what- 
ever else  you  may  wish  to  call  it,  is  a  real  asset  one  that  he  can  lank 
on,  one  that  will  be  of  real  help  to  him  in  his  business. 

In  the  placing  of  his  investments  he  consults  with  our  real 
estate  loan  department,  or  our  bond  department.  Here  again  this 
bank  s  interest  and  advice  are  valuable. 

.Later  he  makes  us  executor  of  his  estate,  knowing  that  our 
charges  cannot  be  higher  than  those  of  a  private  individual,  and  that 
everything  will  be  done  promptly,  correctly,  economically,  and  safely. 

For  this  is  his  bank.  The  bank  Knows  him  guides  him  in  all 
matters  financial,  just  as  his  family  physician  advises  him  on  matters 
of  health,  based  on  a  like  intimate  knowledge  of  him  and  his  needs. 

To  get  the  lest  out  of  your  bank,  choose  it  now  for  its  strength, 
safety,  and  service,  stay  with  it.  and  grow  with  it. 

This  Bank. 


82 


or   Illinois  -  Chicago 

125  \Vest  Monroe  Street,  between   La  Salle  and  Clark  Streets 

Danking  Department.  Every  facility  for  handling  the  checking  ac- 
counts of  individuals,  firms  and  corporations.  Interest  allowed  on  sat- 
isfactory balances.  Demand  and  time  certificates  of  deposit  issued. 

/  rust  Department.  Authorized  by  law  to  accept  trusts  of  all 
kinds.  It  has  exceptional  facilities  for  the  work  required  in  all 
fiduciary  relations,  suck  as  administrator,  guardian,  custodian,  con- 
servator, or  trustee;  also  registrar  and  transfer  agent  of  corporations. 

Savings  Department.  Three  per  cent  allowed  on  savings  deposits. 
Open  Mondays  from  10  a.  m.  continuously  until  8  p.  m. 

Bond  Department.  Buys  and  sells  U.  S.  Government,  foreign 
government,  state,  municipal,  railroad,  public  service,  corporation  and 
building  bonds.  List  of  investments  yielding  4/^yo  to  6%  on  ap- 
plication. 

Real  Estate  Loan  Department.  High-grade  real  estate  bonds 
and  mortgages,  netting  5%  to  6%,  for  sale.  Mortgage  loans 
negotiated  on  well  located,  improved  Chicago  and  suburban  prop- 
erty. Building  loans  a  specialty. 

Foreign  Exchange  Department.  Travelers'  letters  of  credit  and 
travelers  checks  issued,  available  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  Com- 
mercial letters  of  credit  sold. 

Safe  Deposit  vaults.  Different  sizes  and  styles  of  boxes,  rent- 
ing from  $3.00  a  year  upward.  Separate  storage  rooms  for  trunks 
and  bulky  packages.  Special  accommodations  for  women. 

Danking  Hours.  Open  from  10  a.  m.  to  3  p.  m.  Saturdays 
9  a.  m.  to  \£  noon.  The  safe  deposit  vault  hours  are  9  a.  m.  to 
5  p.  m.  Saturdays  9  a.  m.  to  1  p.  m. 


83 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


30112001827671 


